May the strongest rise above
by NE4
Summary: Welcome to the entertainment of the year. 24 tributes, 1 arena. Everything's allowed: Magic, weapons, magical weapons, you name it! Let's enjoy this glorious event, featuring a child with anger issues and another one with a stick. Aint that interesting! Enjoy this family friendly event now on your MTT brand home TV! (Warning: May include bad puns) All hail the eternal empire!
1. Home

Howdy! Welcome to this little story of mine.

As to not confuse anyone later on down the line, there will be a few words here to give a mandatory explanation of the crossover and what it entails. Feel free to skip this part if you've already read the HG x UT tag.

This is a crossover between the fandoms Hunger Games and Undertale. As such, you will only need to know the basic concepts of these two fandoms. There will also be lots of little easter eggs and hints to other fandoms too though. So don't be surprised if a minor character or concept seems familiar. Imagine this story as a wild mix and love letter to a bunch of awesome fandoms that you might have stumbled over too. But like I said, you won't need to know anything about those. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the story.

So congratulations if you made it through that block of text without losing interest. Have fun with the main story!

-o-

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-o-

Chapter 1:** Home**

Some decisions aren't smart. Making decisions, by itself, was a luxury Chara honored deeply, which made making stupid decisions even worse. However, at this moment, Chara didn't care how stupid their actions were, because they were the right thing to do.

"Let me go you old, mean piece of trash!"

"heh. kid, this isn't going to work. though i wholeheartedly understand that you have… a bone to pick with me."

"Let me down or I'm going to slash you open you fricking pile of crap!"

Chara was not good at giving up. Even hanging five feet up in the air, world dipped in blue, the child never ceased to struggle. Angry eyes looked ferociously at their attacker. Standing down there was a small figure in baggy clothing, commonly known as Sans the Skeleton. His eyes twinkled in the same cyan shade that now radiated from the child's chest. With that wide grin stretching across his face, as always, one could have mistaken his expression as ease.

"don't make this any harder, kid. for all of us. please"

Chara's anger subsided slightly, looking around at the faces surrounding the two. They were the child's friends, their family, their home. All of the children were there. Most of the adults were too. All of the underground was looking, staring at the child floating above. Nearly all. They should have been angry too, like Chara. Yet, there was no fight, just sadness, shock and grief. The child tried to blink away the burning in their eyes, born from both sadness and frustration.

"LET THEM DOWN, SANS!"

Chara flinched, surprised by the strange seriousness in the otherwise cheerful voice. Papyrus stood tall, donning his very best, handmade royal guard gear. On any other occasion, that attire alone would have made Chara laugh or make a snarky comment. But today was different.

"are you sure, paps?"

"VIOLENCE IS NEVER A GREAT INGREDIENCE IN CONFLICT. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL HANDLE THIS!"

Sans heaved a sign, letting for just a moment a hint of exhaustion show.

"yeah. sure. whatever."

And just like that, the child plummeted to the ground. They gasped, as their body was suddenly slowed down, right before connecting to the floor. Chara looked around, thoughts fluttering like birds in a blind panic. For a moment, their eyes flittered to the screen attached to the cave wall, their name still gleaming in a delicate cursive font. Eyes, eyes on them, eyes everywhere. They were scared. They were weak. And like that their body moved on their own, faces swimming as the child ran past them, away from the eyes, without a destination or purpose. They couldn't let this happen.

Chara didn't know how much time had passed since they left, but at some point, their feet had slowed, collapsing into a bed of flowers. The flowers coated the whole floor, vines stretching up where floor and walls connected, reaching up for an forever hidden sky. Of course, there was only the ceiling. No matter how pretty its ancient engraved swirls of fire were, it was still just a ceiling. The stony throne poked into the child's back as they leaned against it, but they didn't care. It was nice, actually. It felt like the only real thing at the moment.

"Chara?" Reluctantly, the child opened their eyes. A humorless smile crept onto their face as they spotted the figure. "Heya, Azzie. Watcha doing here?" The goat monster's eyebrows creased, as he took in Chara's disheveled appearance, before trotting over himself. With a resonating plop he flopped down besides the human child. Chara's gaze lingered for a moment, before fixing itself on the petals down below.

They always won against Asriel when it came to being silent for a longer time. Many sleepless nights, inside of pillow forts and under the artificial sky of waterfall, had proven that. "You'll get pollen all over your sweater, you know" Azzie's voice chimed. Chara smiled. It was like clockwork. "Yeah, I know."

"Mom won't be happy if it gets dirty again."

"Mom won't have to clean it."

"…"

"Azzie, where's mom?"

Asriel sighed; white, fluffy paw tapping one of the flowers and letting it swivel back and forth. "Don't worry. She's with dad, I think. They're both worried." He lifted his gaze. "We all are."

Chara scoffed, trying to push back the guilt clogging their throat. "Well, guess it's that time of year again. Took them long enough."

"Mom and dad?"

"The capitol." Honestly, Chara had expected their name on that screen years ago. But Azzie didn't need to know that. It was a thought haunting their every nightmare: As soon as they turned twelve, it would be them. Yet, despite trying to be ready, they had failed. Looking at Azzie's big, sad eyes, Chara felt that well-hidden hope roar up painfully in their chest. Each new year walking through the underground, this one thought that maybe, just maybe, they could both grow up together, grew, bringing with it a warm glow. A warm glow that was now gone.

"The capitol humans are a bunch of meanies!" Azzie spoke with such vigor that it wiggled a small laugh out of Chara's hurting chest.

"I couldn't agree with you more. You'll see! I'm… I'm gonna show them not to mess with the underground!" As much as it pained them, Chara had to be strong. Show no weakness. Never. For him, for mom, for dad. For all of them, they had to stay determined.

Above the two children, plastered to the wall, hung the big sign proudly announcing district 12, catching Chara's eyes. They hated it. But if one looked closely, they still could see the outlines of the former Delta Rune shimmering beneath the paint, hidden but not lost.

"At least they didn't pick your name", Chara murmured, almost to themselfes. Azzie was soft. It was what Chara loved about him. He would always smile in the end, seeing the light in everything. Honestly, the human child envied it. Having Azzie step out of the underground, facing the cruel world above, felt like sacrificing that innocence. Chara could not let that happen.

A sniffing noise broke them out of their thoughts. Looking at their brother, watery red eyes met dull brown.

"Don't you say that! Th…They picked you! They picked you and now you have to leave."

Despite the cruel rumors of humans, monsters could cry. They could cry and make human hearts feel like they were being squeezed into a tiny ball that could shatter any moment.

"Azzie, don't cry"

"I-I don't want for you to leave. You don't have to leave, do you? The peacekeepers can't pass through the barrier. No one can. W-We'll just stay here. We'll stay here forever and mom will bake us some pie and dad will tell us some stories and we'll play together in the ruins."

Tear's soaked the little goat monsters fur as a mix of hope and desperation burned bright in the direction of the human child. But, as always, it was Chara's place to once more destroy a bit of hopes and dreams. Humans seemed to be good at that.

"And how is mom supposed to bake cake if there's no food? We've tried this before. Remember six years ago. That child…" Chara's throat clogged as they tried to speak that sorrowful name again. "The patient one. They refused to go and you remembered what happened." At Azzie's stubborn look, Chara pressed on. "Azzie, what happened?"

The goat boy looked away, reluctantly answering: "The capitol stopped sending food through the barrier."

"That's right. No matter how many tons of coal and gems we send them, they refused to trade back. Not with their tribute still inside."

"That was only one time."

"We still haven't recovered from that one time."

"Even so, the peacekeepers can't get you."

"That doesn't matter if we all starve to death!" Chara didn't mean to scream. They tried to banish the burning sensation from their eyes without success. "I'm sorry, Azzie. Trust me, I want to hide, more than anything else. But… I can't."

A soft thud sounded and Chara had to flail slightly to not fall over from the sudden weight at their side. Fluffy arms frapped around them, warm breathing grazing their neck. They sighed, wrapping an arm around the small monster at their side.

"I'll miss you." Azzie's voice was raw, making Chara want to sink into the flowers, disappearing and taking all that sorrow with them.

"I'll miss you too." They opened their mouth to say more. But how were they supposed to put all of those years into a few words? Before Asriel, the world had been bleak. But now, he filled them with color. Now they had to leave this colorful world, probably without ever coming back. Chara would rather die than leave. Their gaze darkened as they peered at the entrance, searching for the source of their now three days long misery. Well, one day for the real world to be fair but whatever. Even eating those damn flowers didn't do the job. They always refused.

Asriel seemed to sense their sibling's tension as he peered up as best as he could from his slumped position. "Are you ok? You're making your scary face again"

"Sorry, don't worry. It's just…"

"What?"

"Now you're the one who's making our sweaters wet with all of your sniffling, you big crybaby."

"Oh." A soft chuckle escaped. "Sorry."

The human child took a moment to enjoy the warmth, the company, for one last time. They would miss this. They would miss the throne room, they would miss the flowers, they would even miss that big ugly district 12 sign. Even if they would be gone now, they at least knew everyone else would be ok. They would be safe, at least for another year.

"Come on, Azz. Let's go."


	2. Small Shock

Chapter 2: **Small Shock**

The first time Chara's name got pulled, they just froze. People said the reaping was, for the most part, a pure game of fate. Maybe your name gets pulled, maybe not. Of course, the likelihood increased as you grew older, but that should hardly bother a twelve year old like Chara. It was a fair chance for all. And may the odds be ever in your favor! What a bunch of crap.

Mom had woken them early that day. They each got one big slice of pie for breakfast. Mom otherwise always insisted on a healthy meal, no matter how scarce food was. Sometimes, they had to resort to the Underground's own farms to get by. Those times would often be spent eating small pieces of water sausage for breakfast. On a good day, Dad would harvest a few vegetables from his garden and they would have that for dinner, sharing it in big meals with the whole Underground. Dad always knew how to make the scarcest of times feel like a time for celebration. But to be honest, there never was much growing. Most plants needed sunlight, which the cave system simply couldn't offer. So, to have something as special as pie as breakfast should have made Chara weep in joy. Instead the delicious meal just tasted like ashes.

It had become a tradition by now: Baking a pie at the day of the reaping. It began six years ago. Each and every time it was a farewell. Chara wondered if mom realized that.

"I can't wait to see how the judgement hall looks, now that it's fully decorated", Asriel chimed, always the cheerful one.

Mom smiled, though it was strained. "Didn't you see it yesterday, when you helped decorating?"

"Yeah, but I didn't get to stay till the end. Papyrus and Undyne were still busy hanging stuff up when I left."

"Oh my… I didn't realize your dad put those two in charge. Are you sure nothing's damaged?"

"It wasn't last evening."

Chara huffed, taking out their frustration on their poor slice of cake. "Why do we even celebrate it like this? It's not like as if any of the capitol's cameras are working down here. All that makes it outside is Alphy's surveillance tapes."

"My dear child, it's to lighten the mood. Especially today, we all do need some cheering up."

The human child's fork made a loud noise as it connected with their plate. "But there's nothing to cheer for."

"Chara, don't."

"It's murder!"

"Chara, not today! I can't…", a white furred hand moved into Chara's line of sight as Toriel reached for the table to steady herself. "I cannot deal with this today, my child. I'm utterly sorry. I should be strong for you."

Chara bit their lip, looking up. Mom's fur, always well kept, was ruffled, her eyes bloodshot from clearly not enough sleep. Chara knew they could be difficult, but they never intended to harm their mother. The child fidgeted, reaching over, not sure if touching their mother right now would be ok. "Sorry. I'm sorry, mom."

Toriel's gaze lifted, a small smile breaking through. "I forgive you, my child. No harm is done. It is just important to understand that monsters rely on love and compassion. The sadness induced by a day like this, every year, is far from healthy. So I have ordered to decorate, to make it as far from hurtful as possible."

"You'll love the decoration, mom, I promise." Asriel added in a soft voice, his focus shifting to their best friend. "And there will be orbs swirling with all kinds of magic. I added one too. You'll love it, Chara."

The human child huffed, not happy but not as angry as before. "If you say so, Azzie."

"We made a green and yellow one for you and an orange one for mom! Alphys helped making them and then Papyrus let Frisk climb on their shoulders to put them up high. It was so much fun, wasn't it, Frisk?"

The other child gave a small nod. Riiiight. The other human was so quiet, Chara tended to just forget they were there. But eating their pie in tiny bites across from Chara sat the newest addition to the family. A bandaid still stuck to the part of their forehead that still took time to recover from the fall. At this point, the Dreemurr family was experts on head, leg, or whatever else one managed to land, on injuries. They had seen all sorts of weird injuries from new ones falling into the underground. The burn marks around the neck never seemed to fade however, if Chara's own were any indication.

"So, Frisk, how are reapings on the surface side of the district nowadays?"

"Chara!" Their mom chastised.

"What?! I'm just curious."

The young human who currently donned a blue sweater with purple stripes, curtesy of Toriel, just shrugged. "I never went there."

Well, that's great. There went Chara's change in topic. Thankfully, Toriel saved them from another awkward moment: "Well then wash up, my children, and get ready. I fear there's no dwindling anymore."

So, yeah, the track record of human children getting selected during reaping in district 12 never was that great. Combining that with Chara's luck, they shouldn't have been surprised. And yet, there's a difference between knowing that there's an entrance to the underground around here somewhere that you could fall into and actually feeling the wind rushing past your ears. Which meant that knowing it would probably happen really didn't make it better. Not even the first time.

Golden light from the fires of Hotland filtered through the windows left and right, illuminating rows of children in all shapes and sizes. Orbs with magic flickered above, forgotten. Only two of the children were human. And since the odds were in their favor, guess which two names shone on the big screen at the far wall of the district 12's judgement hall. It was a live broadcast from the district's surface above, were an escort proudly held two little scrapes of paper into the camera. Of course, Chara didn't know how many children were standing up there right now, but if the population didn't explode while they were down here, their odds were still a big, steaming bunch of crap.

Chara must have looked silly, just staring blankly at their own name. They didn't even really notice the golden flicker out of the corner of their eyes. If it weren't for the loud sob breaking the silence, they would have probably continued to stand there forever. As it was, their head wiped around to the far back, where their mom had collapsed. They had seen her coordinating weeks of near starvation, even plagues taking one soul after another in the underground, with stride, never losing her kind words and firm composure. This, however, seemed to be too much, as her hands grasped at Asgore's forearm who tried, but failed, to steady her. With knees touching the floor, head drooping down and obscuring her face, was the proud former queen of the underground. Her features shivered with each and every sob. It was heartbreaking.

"hey kid." The child glanced at the skeleton stepping forward. Ever the collected one, he wore that big smile on his face like every other day. "standing around won't conTribute to anything good, don't cha think? so, why don't we get this over with?"

Getting this over with? Was he fricking serious?

"heya Frisk? What about you? Care to join?"

Sure enough, the purple striped kid trotted over compliantly. How were they able to be so calm? Chara felt as though they were ready to burst with… with everything. All kinds of emotions swirled inside and Chara just couldn't take it. They had to do something, to let it all out and chose an option already.

A glance at the bony hand stretching towards them, beckoning like the grim reaper of human tales, settled it. Why couldn't they be spared? They refused to face this.

So they ran away.

"hey, kid! Wait!"

"SANS, LET THEM GO!"

The child ran past their friends, past their parents. They ran hating the tears streaking down their cheeks.

Somehow, Chara found themselves in their room, huddled into one of the blankets with their festive sweater and shoes still on. This sucked. This just sucked so hard.

Thankfully, the door had a lock. Unfortunately, however, they kind of shared that room with Asriel and Frisk. Oh well. Yes, they were kind of a douche when it came to all of this. But they really couldn't find the strength to care. Therefore, the locked door probably was the only reason why Azzie began talking to them through it. They couldn't imagine him doing that for any other reason after all the trouble Chara was causing right now. Mom probably was furious.

"Hey, Chara? Are you in there?"

"…"

"I-I'm here if you need me."

But they stayed silent.

"Chara? Are you awake? Mom has put some leftover pie outside, if you want to eat any."

But they stayed silent.

"It's been nearly two days, you know. You might want to eat."

Silence.

"No one is mad, I promise."

Silence.

"Chara, please, just let me in. You don't have to do anything. Don't make me spend another night without you. Please, you have to eat."

They didn't care.

"Please, just say something. Anything."

"…"

"Mom said she'll break the door down if you don't come out."

"…"

"Ok, that was a lie."

They were as good as dead anyways. Nothing mattered.

"A-are you mad at me? At us? I'm sorry. I'm sorry those stupid games exist. I'm sorry for not being able to… to help you."

"Azzie."

"Yes?"

"Please go away."

The cramps already began at day two. Chara had once read that it only takes between three to seven days without water and food for humans to die. They could have been more active, of course, but they just couldn't bring themselves to really do it. Even if they fell down once and for all, what good would it do? There would just be another child selected in their place. And that monster would have to suffer, just because of the actions of one selfish human. It didn't seem fair, even if they would not be there to watch it. But to walk outside, to succumb to their fate was just as impossible. Chara huffed, stuffing their face into a pillow, letting out a muffled scream. Their surrounding was a mess after days of self-imposed imprisonment and so were they. A small part of them felt bad about making the nice sweater reek, but they shushed it together with all of their emotions.

Frustrated by themselves and the world, Chara turned around to lie on their back, gaze drifting from their shared closet, filled to the brim with old shoes in different sizes and striped shirts, to the family photo. They never had much, but the Dreemurrs never cared. The picture had been taken right after a long day in the mines, with Chara and Azzie all dirty from crawling around the tight spaces. Still, they smiled, together with two proud parents, all looking at the camera. Asriel and Chara both held a nice bouquet of golden flowers in their arms, freshly picked from dad's garden. The edge of Chara's mouth twitched as they remembered the sweet smell of buttercups. They always loved those flowers and dad knew it. The pair on their nightstand had already begun to wither without dad's gentle care. He was a bit reluctant to put plants inside a home with young children, even though he loved them all. Dad made both of them read a whole book on recognizing and not eating poisonous flowers. Chara gently reached out to touch one of the browning petals. It wasn't so bad for Chara, they didn't mind reading. But Azzie had not been as fond to just sit around and read. The petals felt smooth near the stem, but became rough and dry at the ends were the decay began. Even now, they started to wrinkle. Asriel also didn't like the topic, of course. Sickening poisons weren't exactly his favorite bedtime stories.

Chara's fingertips stopped at the very tip of one goldish brown petal. That was it. They sat up straight, gazing at the flowers in front of them. That was the solution. Sick tributes were usually handled in two different ways. Chara had seen both of those ways before.

Some years ago, a child with steady purple eyes had fallen down, the fifth at that point. They wrote stories Chara enjoyed to read. The child always seemed to try to document as much of the space around them as possible with sharp focus, eyes piercing trough those glasses. Yet, they didn't get to see much of the world as their health was too frail to move around too much. Even with mom's soothing care, they never seemed to be completely cured of their sickness. When they were chosen as tribute, it only got worse. Whereas before they were able to walk short distances and on a good day even play with the other children, they now were bedridden, not even able to walk to the barrier themselves. It was deemed by the capitol as bad entertainment. But surprisingly, the capitol waited, refusing to choose another tribute and rather waiting for the child's condition to get good enough to at least put up some fight.

That year, only one tribute from district 12 competed in the hunger games. At the day of the parade in the capitol, the child finally passed away. It was peaceful, at least. They got to spend their final moments at home.

The next year, the chosen tribute was a human again, another one of Toriel's children. It also was another child with a dampened health, thankfully this time only with a mild cold. Some smart monsters suggested, in most secrecy of course, for the child to exaggerate it.

"Maybe the capitol will wait like the last time," they said. "You may get away with your life."

But the sixth was a silly one. They just smiled and said "it would be mean to let my monster friend go to the capitol alone" "it wouldn't be fair" and "besides, if I play it wrong, they might want to choose another tribute."

How stupid. So, they went anyway. As the first day in the arena approached, they were already not in the best condition and in the end it wasn't a weapon or attack that killed them, just that stupid cold. What a waste.

Chara felt giddy all of a sudden. Maybe, just maybe if they played it right, they could bluff their way through another year. But they had to do it right! The sixth was right when it came to one thing: Convincing the heartless capitol of their sickness would be hard. So, rather than put fruitless hope into their acting skills, they may be able to get away with just the right amount of sickness.

Their gaze fell onto one particular flower. They had all that they needed right here. For the first time in days Chara smiled.


	3. Heartache

Chapter 3: **Heartache**

You learn something new every day. The purple kid had been right about that. On that particular day, Chara learned two things: For one, eating flowers on their own is hard. That, however, can be easily solved with leftover cinnamon butterscotch pie and some hunger. Which brings us to the second interesting information: Poison can be way more effective than one would think.

Thanks to that second new finding, Chara now experienced what cramps felt like if your insides were on fire. Combined with the painful blisters around their mouth and face, it was not exactly the nicest experience in the world. But Chara didn't care even a single bit. They've had worse. Besides, if it bought them one more year with their family, then they would gladly do this a thousand times over.

But as mentioned, buttercups work very well, too well.

"Psst... Chara? Are you awake?" Opening their eyes was hard, moving was even harder. Even so, they still enjoyed Azzie's voice. "Please, wake up."

"I am awake", but their lips would not move. They were so tired, so very, very tired.

"I-I don't like this. Please, Chara, if you can hear me, wake up."

They wanted to, they really did, but their limbs would not respond. Maybe… maybe this had been a bad idea.

The world drifted by without Chara being able to tell if it was day or night. At times, they would feel soft fur against their skin, or hear a distant voice, though they were never sure if it wasn't just a dream.

For how long had they been asleep? Were they even awake now? Were the games over yet?

Drifting like that their breathing grew slow. The world felt fuzzy and warm, pain growing steadily like a roaring fire.

They imagined a hand grasping theirs, a distant voice calling. "Chara! You have to stay determined! You can't give up! You are the future of humans and monsters..."

Sorry, dad. Guess they failed at that too.

The thought of finally going to sleep filled them with… gratitude.

Slowly but surely they let themselves fall down into an endless void.

Lacking a body is strange. You want to draw a breath, yet there is no air. You want to move, yet there's no option to act. In the end, there was just that familiar red glow.

Actually, Chara was kind of disappointed. There were also other emotions swirling through their soul, though they did not want to acknowledge their existence. It was far more comfortable to just focus on the burning annoyance within. After all, death seemed rather dull.

At least they were finally free. In death, no capitol would be able to punish them anymore. As selfish as it was, Chara couldn't help but feel happy about that. No nightmares could haunt them now. They would be able to finally sleep in peace.

There was no big light though, no tunnel, nothing, just that endless void all around. Not the kind of way Chara would have imagines it. No, wait, there it was. A bright flash ignited, shining in a soft golden light. Why was it yellow, though? Before they could mull over the fact, they more felt than saw a strong red glow in the distance. A soul hovered not too far ahead, filling out the outlines of a small body with its glow. Chara knew that soul.

What the… Frisk?

The red child reached out a hand and the world ground to a halt.

"…this year's tribute from district 12 is… CHARA DREEMUR!"

Chara stumbled, disoriented. Gosh, it was bright, far too bright all of a sudden. White forms danced around them, moving in small ways. The child shut their eyes, breathing heavily, as they tried to calm themselves. Something was wrong. Words floated around them.

"Tribute"

"-the next tribute"

"Oh no, not Chara"

"That poor human"

Right, their name was called. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no. Dread settled into their bones as Chara glanced up at their name dancing on the screen in golden letters; dread, but no shock. A small voice at the back of their mind wondered about that little fact. Of course, this had been a pretty likely possibility, but shouldn't they at least feel the slightest bit of surprise? Yet, it felt as if they knew this fact all along.

A voice nearby compelled the child's head to wipe around. "hey kid. standing around won't conTribute to anything good, don't cha think? So, why don't we get this over with?" Sans.

No, something was definitely wrong. The human took an unconscious step back, to which the monster just raised an eyebrow. Sans' jokes were bad, yes, but he rarely told that one, and not in this context, at this place. Chara was sure this didn't happen before, never directed at them at least. Yet this very moment felt far too familiar, like a movie they just watched repeated again.

Something was wrong and Chara would find it. The world flushed with color as Chara willed white shapes into existence. Nothing twirled or drifted suspiciously. They could spot no attack patterns, yet there was cold anxiety churning in their stomach.

"heya Frisk? What about you? Care to join?"

Frisk. Chara twirled around to face the other human, a suspicion nudging at the back of their neck. And sure enough, there was something very wrong about that child. Chara's fists balled as they took in the world hidden from most. Red radiated from Frisk's chest, just like Chara's own did. But what concerned the first human was the single, shining golden star hovering in front of Frisk, small tendrils of light reaching for that red glow.

Frisk, oblivious to Chara's realization, trotted over with a neutral face towards were Sans' outstretched hand was waiting.

Chara fought the burning rage welling up in their chest. They weren't sure why exactly they were this enraged by the event. Yet, a small pang of hurt coursed through their soul. Memories that didn't happen flickered through their mind. They had been free. And it had been ok. It was their will. But Frisk erased all of it, erased their choice just like that.

A growl rose from Chara's throat, as they trotted over toward the human child and monster, gait quickening with every step.

"Uh, kid…?!"

"It was you!" The impact was rough. When had Chara started running? It didn't matter. Fingers forming claws, they slammed into the other child, knocking both of them over with a dull thump. Chara didn't care. "It was you! You did something, didn't you?!"

Chara's eyes flashed a fierce red, arms pinning the fellow human to the floor, who looked up at them with enraging passiveness. "All those days…" they spent suffering in the darkness of their room. "Every choice…" and the final decision that lead to Chara's big gamble. It didn't work out, yet it was their fate. They were determined to be free from the capitol's grasp. "You just erased it, didn't you? Erased it all."

Chara's fists locked onto the striped blue and purple sweater. Mom made it. Frisk didn't deserve it. Somewhere, in the distance, monsters were shouting. Chara couldn't hear it, their rushing blood drowning out everything else.

"I saved you." The words were no more than a soft breeze, spoken by the small child pinned below. Chara thought they saw a slight crease between Frisk's eyebrows. Maybe they just imagined it.

The yellow striped child trembled. "Saved me?" A chuckle escaped them, turning into a cold laughter. "You really call this saving? Oh, let me thank you then, dear friend." They yanked Frisk up by their sweater, still kneeing over them. "Thank you for making me leave my family." They slammed the child down, hearing more than seeing Frisk's head connect with the floor. Chara lifted them back up. "Thank you for making me suffer longer!"

Slam.

"Thank you for letting them turn my death into entertainment!"

Slam.

"Thank you so very much!"

"Chara!" Screams flooded around them. The world was red, dark copper stenches decorating the floor in the light of cheerful magic balloons.

Their body was freed from gravity, forcefully ripped away from the still human beneath them. Familiar blue energy danced around their soul. Chara's gaze landed on the skeleton below and they smiled through their rage, showing their teeth. That took him long enough.

"Kid, calm down. You don't want to cause any more suffering than you already have, do ya?"

Chara twisted and turned, trying to break free. "So what?! It's not like you'd care! You never do. Besides, I did them a favor! I did…", their gaze finally landed on the body down below, their blind rage finally subsiding a bit. Shaggy, dark hair covered parts of a slag face, their head twisted slightly at the wrong angle. Red had splashed around the fallen child, oozing slowly over the pristine tile floor. Chara used to play at this very spot when Azzie and them were little. Oh no.

A sickening feeling twisted their guts as they gazed down at their work. This couldn't be true. How… how had they lost control like that?

A sob cracked through the hall like thunder. Heads turned as a tall, white furred monster pushed their way through the crowd, a bigger one not far beyond.

Mom. Dad.

Chara had messed up, again.

They watched as their mother dropped to the floor next to the child she had only known for a few months. Bright fur stained white as it moved towards the wounds, magic twirling in a desperate attempt.

"No, my child. Don't… Please don't leave!"

"Small one, you have to stay determined!"

It was wrong, it was all wrong. This was a nightmare. And Chara was the true monster.

The sobbing grew weaker with Toriel's slowing hands, which finally rested on the child's chest. Her head turned and Chara flinched at the sight of fresh tears streaking down their mother's cheeks. Toriel's gaze was empty as she raised her head to look at Chara, who was still suspended by Sans' magic.

"I am sorry, my dear. Now I see who I was protecting by keeping you away from the surface. Not you... But them."

"Mom…?"

No one ever cared, no one but them. Monsters took Chara in, raised them, and loved them. And how had the child repaid them?

Chara truly didn't deserve to be around them. In the end, all they were capable of was hurting others. It seemed like that never changed.

"I-I'm sorry, mom, dad, e-every…" Why? Why, why, why?

But nobody cared.

Not even Chara themselves. If they had, maybe they would have realized the glow sooner. But as it was, they were busy drowning in a wave of all consuming despair. It felt like the world collapsed.

Too late Chara realized that it actually did.

"…this year's tribute from district 12 is… CHARA DREEMUR!"

That was the third time.

-o-

* * *

-o-

Howdy and welcome to everybody new who discovered this story! And also a big welcome back to everyone who's already following along!

Some of you may have noticed that the update schedule changed from once every month to every two weeks. That's mainly due to my lack of patience and currently large amount of pre-written chapters. I may regret this at some point in the future, but meh. That's for future me to solve! So for now, there are twice as many updates. Yay!

Reviews are also much appreciated. But just seeing you guys reading this story makes me happy enough.

That's enough rambling for today.

Till we meet again!


	4. Barrier

Chapter 4: **Barrier**

"SEE? I KNEW THE HUMAN WOULD COME AROUND! AND THE OTHER HUMAN DID SO TOO. THIS IS GETTING CONFUSING."

Sans chuckled as he plucked his hands into his hoodie's pockets. "sure is, paps. Maybe after all these years, we should put a little more backbone into learning their names."

"SANS?"

"yes?"

"PLEASE STOP."

As a matter of fact, Sans did, right at that moment, with his feet and all of that. Chara had to flail their arms awkwardly to not bump into him. They caught themselves just in time, glaring with annoyance at the smaller skeleton. This, combined with many other reasons, was why the child didn't like that particular monster. Things like this happened far too often.

"whelp, we're here. I hope you brought your sunglasses, kiddos."

They hadn't, of course. Nevertheless, the sight before them still was breathtaking, in a creepy way.

As if reading their mind, the short monster shifted slightly towards them. "Making your skin crawl, doesn't it?"

Oh, yeah, the puns. That was another reason; the awful, awful puns. Cannot forget those.

"Home is kind of just around the corner right there." Chara commented, hoping the bored shrug following their words would stop their nerves from showing. "It isn't like we never saw it." The child cast a quick glance behind, a small part of them expecting the faces of their family poking out from the entrance to the throne room. Yet, only golden flowers and vines glistered in the pale light of the barrier.

They felt the chain of their locket weight heavily around their neck. Asriel had cried but smiled. Mom had embraced them fiercely with love in their eyes. Even then, she tried to be strong for them. Dad had woven a single golden flower from his garden into their hair. The loving gesture had left a bitter taste in Chara's mouth.

The child shifted their attention to the other human next to them. With curly dark hair covering the side of their face, it was impossible to read Frisks expression. Of course, they had received a similar farewell as well. The soft scent of mom's butterscotch-cinnamon pie still lingered around them.

Sans glanced at his blank wrist. "Huh, seems like they're late."

"MAYBE THEY JUST GOT HELD UP. OH NO, WHAT IF THEY COLLAPSED ON THEIR WAY HERE?! I SHOULD PREPARE SOME OF MY FAMOUS NOURISHING SPAGHETTI!"

"i don't think that's such a great idea. you know how some people just aren't ready to experience your…"

"CULLINARY AWESOMENESS?"

"yes. that."

Just on cue, the light rippling in waves in front of them shifted, the ripples becoming uneven. Chara felt the barrier's energy buzzing, thumping in an uneven beat. Their gaze shifted to the old cart track resting on the firm stone floor just off to the side. One end wound its way deep into one of the rough tunnels next to the throne room, disappearing into the depths of the underground. The other blurred as it disappeared in the buzzing static of the barrier. If they concentrated enough, they could imagine it going on to a place where sunlight touched the glistering, metal surface. Like a disturbed pond, this entrance point send circles of light outwards into the depths of the mountain.

Chara took an unconscious step back, while they watched Frisk step forward towards the source. A hand clasped down on the purple striped child's shoulder. "trust me, kiddo. you don't wanna get too close to that."

An ear splitting screech filled the air. Chara covered their ears as their eyes locked on the vague shape of a cart approaching at alarming speeds. There was a loud thump as it came into full few, careening in a blur towards the tunnel and crashing against a wall of bones that hadn't been there before.

Papyrus huffed, sending the object an offended look as the bones glowed with an orange hue and disappeared in a flurry of magic. "HONESTLY THOUGH, THOSE PEACEKEEPERS HAVE NO MANNERS. SOMEONE COULD HAVE GOTTEN HURT BY THAT!"

Sans nodded, patting his brother on the lower arm that he could reach. "thanks, bro. great reflexes. undyne would be impressed."

"SPEAKING OF WHICH, WHERE IS SHE?"

The shorter skeleton made his way over, peaking into the trunk of the cart. Chara took a cautious step forward, curiosity momentarily overcoming fear.

"i dunno. probably late. mind fetching her?"

The tall skeleton nodded. "I'LL DO MY UTMOST BEST. NYEHEHE! BUT FIRST" he walked over, crouching down in front of the two humans. "SINCE YOU WILL BE OFF SOON, I GUESS IT'S TIME TO WISH MY TWO BEST BUDDIES GOOD LUCK!"

Chara ground their teeth together, trying to ignore the ringing that the skeleton's shrill voice caused in their ears.

"I KNOW THINGS MIGHT LOOK BLEAK, BUT I BELIEVE IN YOU TWO! YOU CAN DO IT, EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK SO!"

Chara raised an incredulous eyebrow at the naïve monster. "So you actually want us to succeed in kil-"

"we're kinda on a tight schedule, paps!"

Papyrus grinned, raising himself back to his full height. "AH YES, OF COURSE. I'LL MAKE IT QUICK. AND DON'T GIVE ME YOUR SCARY FACE, HUMAN."

That only motivated Chara to glare harder.

"FAREWELL, DEAR FRIENDS. YOU'LL BE FINE. AFTER ALL, YOU HAD AN AWESOME TEACHER: ME! AND IF ANYONE WANTS TO PICK A BONE WITH YOU, JUST BEFRIEND THEM LIKE I DID WITH YOU! NYEH!"

They… they weren't friends. Papyrus was annoying, stupidly naïve. Still, his words somehow stung deep within Chara's soul. He was too nice for his own good. They wanted to snuff out the nasty feeling, make a snarky comment or something. But just as quickly, he was gone, running off through the throne room.

Sans turned around to face the children, a small disk in his hand. As Chara looked closely, the numbers on the disk seemed to decrease. A countdown.

Soon enough, the sound of two pairs of feet approaching echoed through the caverns. One resonated with a heavy thud, as the other flopped along, spluttering every once in a while.

"O-Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for b-being late! I-I was so caught up in my… um… research that I totally forgot the time!" It was a miracle that the small lizard storming in could even speak in between her heavy huffs of breath. Worried eyes behind thick glasses flew from one face to another as another monster appeared in the entrance behind her.

"Gosh, why didn't I add an alarm and… huh?! Chara, is that you? O-oh no. Frisk too. So you guys are the new tributes. Oh no oh no oh no. This is bad. I'm so sorry. I'm going to fail everybody and with the population on the surface decreasing, my whole research will be for naught. Oh no, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to… I should, I should…"

"Alphys." A dull voice resonated behind a metal helmet as a strong, steel-clad arm slammed down onto the yellow lizards shoulder, effectively stopping her rambling. "There is no need to apologize. The fate of these two has been decided."

Chara rolled their eyes, biting their lip. They couldn't wait to get this over with. And these two weren't speeding things up at all.

The armored soldier removed her helmet, revealing a fierce smile. "However, that doesn't mean we cannot suplex fate into submission! We just have to wait for the moment to strike. I'll punch reality into a pulp if I need to!"

"U-Undyne…"

"Just don't beat yourself up about this, Alphy."

Monsters were all the same, brimming with hopes and dreams and warmth and compassion. The child's fingers tightened around the locket that rested beneath their sweater. Just like Asriel. Just like mom and dad.

A distant memory of red seeping over a pristine golden floor filled their mind. No, it was for the best. It was just the way their mother had said in that erased figment of time. Monster kind was safer without them.

Taking a deep breath, Chara tried to pull themselves together. "Greetings, doctor Alphys."

In just a moment, all eyes were on them. The child didn't mind, putting on as sweet a smile as possible. "I understand that this whole situation might be…" What was the smart word mom always used? "…upsetting. Even so, we are kind of short on time."

Alphys perked up at that. "O-oh, right. Sorry." Their scales turned a bright, orange shade. "T-this was selfish of me. I-I'm sorry."

Her fishy friend stepped forward for her, pointing a hand at the three vials that were hidden in Alphys' grasp. "Alphys just needed some more time to finish the concoction."

Her head turned towards Sans, scaly brows creasing into a frown. "Hey, Sans, how much time do we have left?"

The skeleton glanced lazily at the device in his hand. "eh, it's enough. One minute and thirty-six seconds."

Undyne stared at him for a moment, mouth in a thin line. As seconds ticked by, Chara thought she'd explode in rage. Instead, the female monster covered her eye in exasperation, before taking a deep breath to let loose a badly contained growl. "Sans, for the love of f-!" She caught herself in time, lone eye drifting towards the two human children. "For the love of monster kind, keep an eye on the time and tell me!"

The knight in shining armor whirled around, focusing all of her attention on the humans.

"NGAH! It doesn't matter! Let's hurry and get this wrapped up."

Chara tried to not shrink into themselves as the intensity of the situation hit them.

Undyne rushed over, plucking the vials from a squeaking Alphys. "Here ya go, you two. One shower of this stuff coming right up!"

"W-Wait!", Alphys stumbled forward, nearly falling over. "They need to drink it to absorb it properly!"

"Oh!" the blue scaled monster stopped for a bit, before resuming with renewed gusto by shoving a vial into each of the human's hands. "Well, then, here you go! Chuck it down. NOW!"

Chara held the object away from themselves as far as possible. "What is this stuff even made of?" As far as their normal sight would tell, the vials were filled with a slightly translucent, milky substance. A closer inspection, however, showed a strangely familiar, white hue wisp above the liquid, shedding a soft, pale light. There was just the slightest, cyan tinge to it.

Undyne let out a nervous laughter, thin trails of sweat sliding down the side of her face. "Does it matter?! Come on, just do it already!"

"I-It's a magic based mixture that a-allows you to pass through the barrier." Alphys added, while wringing her hands in front of her. "It w-will wear off, however, after a small amount of time."

Chara glanced incredulously at the small vial in their hand. "Wait, are you saying anyone could just pass the barrier with a bit of that? That's crazy. Why haven't we used it on everyone yet?!"

"W-Well… erm…"

"one minute." Sans announced lazily, sharing a casual glance with Undyne.

The fish monster cursed under her breath. "Go, go, go, you two!"

Frisk complied without a complaint, lifting the cold glass towards their mouth and downing it in a fluid motion.

Breath quickening, Chara looked down at their own vial, uncomfortably aware of the multitude of eyes on them. If they didn't drink it, they'd look weak. And even so, Frisk seemed to be ok with this path. So what choice did they really have?

Shutting their eyes tight, Chara threw back their head, letting the liquid slide into their mouth, gliding like flaming ice down their throat. They couldn't decide whether it was burning or freezing, but it hurt, the feeling spreading through their whole body. Choking, the child felt their grip loosen as moments later, the sound of shattering glass echoed through the cave.

They may have stayed there forever, every nerve in their body screaming, or just for an instant. Who knew? Maybe it was a bit of both. However, slowly, gradually, the pain ebbed, leaving a tranquil feeling of calm in their wake.

Chara opened their eyes, waiting for the world to come into focus again. Red flared to their left, flickering every once in a while. For a second it was white, then back to cyan, then finally a familiar red, tinged with the slightest hints of pure white. Odd. But Chara recognized the shape. Frisk must have fallen to the floor after drinking their part of the potion. Chara felt a strange sense of pride grow in their chest at the thought of managing to stay upright.

Undyne grimaced apologetically. "Erm… sorry. I forgot how strong that stuff is. Maybe you two should sit down for a moment-"

"forty-five seconds."

"Or we do some good old lesson in toughening up! I'm sorry, but you two will have to suck it up. This experience will make you stronger than ever. Feel the pain. Relish the pain! AND GET MOVING, PUNKS!"

A strong hand closed itself around the neckline of their sweater, scaly fingers lightly scratching skin. Before they could do as much as move a limp, Chara was more dragged than walked towards the barrier. The tall monster only paused to pick up Frisk, dropping them both off onto their feet in front of a wall of energy.

Next to them, Sans calmly strode forward, sipping away at his own vile, this one's liquid glowing in an eerie, pure cyan color. "well, seems like time's up. see ya, dyne! catch ya on this side." And just like that, he led the way into a maze of white fog and buzzing magic.

Chara felt their breath hitch, as their feet seemed to move on their own. They still remembered the first time passing through, all those years ago. The feeling of a thousand pinpricks passing through their body as they fell to their certain death. Or so they thought.

The barrier was simple. Everything, living or not, got in. But try to get out and you get burned to a crisp. At least, that's how the legends go. Reality, in contrast, wasn't simple.

This time, however, was different. It didn't hurt. Even as the energy enveloped them it didn't feel like an attack. More like a distant welcome home, resonating deep within them.

They felt their will to live, to survive this passage unharmed, burn deep within their soul. A deep warmth enveloped them, like a hug in a cold snowstorm, protecting them from harm. Somewhere, a small voice urged them to not rush, rather wait for the energy to shift till passage was safe.

They didn't hear anything, not even the sound of their own feet as memories tucked at them, twisting and grasping. Just a bit more and they'd be safe. No, not safe. Why not?

Because-because they were…

Bright sunlight touched them for the first time in seven years, illuminating their world in bright shades of soft white.


	5. Premonition

Chapter 5: **Premonition**

The first thing they saw was light. Were they dead? No, death was dark. Chara knew that one for certain. Guess they still lived and breathed. How bothersome. This kind of light felt nice though. Chara had nearly forgotten the slight warmth and prickling of their skin, as it bathed for the first time in years in real sunlight. It was almost too bright. Their eyes strained to adjust to the sudden multitude of colors as Chara tried to blink away the pain. What came into focus were four splotches of color, three orange ones and one deep blue one. Strangely enough, they drew stark edges against the blurry background in the shape of four hearts hovering quite a bit above.

Chara had only a moment to comprehend this oddity, to feel the sun and breeze whisking through their hair, as one of the orange shapes moved and something cold closed around Chara's neck. They tensed as the metal touched their old, charred scar. One moment later, shock was replaced by pain. The child gasped as they tried to repress an agonized scream.

And in one instant, all color vanished from the world, throwing it into black and white.

The child raised a hand to touch the tightly closed metal device around their neck. It was smaller than they remembered. They had been younger back then. Back when color didn't exist; before they met Azzie and mom and dad. They didn't even know what they missed. Now they knew. Now they saw the sudden void. And it hurt more than the numbing pain coursing out of the device through their body.

"Don't do anything funny." Chara gazed up at the muffled, feminine voice. An armored figure stood over them, the one responsible for the dumb electric charge running through their body. The figure was flanked by two others, who wore the same, painfully white full body armor. It wasn't like Undyne's or anything one would see on the royal guard. This one lacked any ornaments and the powerful glistering of raw metal. Instead it was white, smooth and absolutely featureless. One could only guess the expressions behind those visors. Judging by how four taser guns were directed at the residents from the underground, the peacekeepers probably weren't out to make friends.

"Stand up, both of you. Hands where we can see them." The peacekeeper to the right seemed just as thrilled as Chara was to be here, if his tone of voice was anything to go by. The child suppressed a snarl at the thought of having anything in common with a peacekeeper.

Next to them, Frisk took a few, tentative steps, hands wrapped around the device at their throat. What was it called again? It had been so long. With that thing on, the other human looked uncannily like how they were when Asriel and Chara found them just a few months ago.

"heya, fellas! long time no see. i hope you weren't feeling bonely without me."

"You too, monster. Hands were we can see them!"

Sans took his time extracting his hands from the pockets of his hoodie. "no need to raise your voice, buddy. gotta say, you've lost quite some weight there, larry."

"…I'm new."

Chara droned out the chatter almost immediately, which was second nature at this point after having the misfortune of coming across the skeleton brothers every so often. They tore their gaze away from the guns for a moment to cast a weary glance behind them. The barrier looked just like it did from the inside, only now at war with the bright daylight trying to break through it, making shiny particles of energy float above its surface. That was the one thing that separated Chara from home. And they'd probably never see the inside again.

A tight feeling enveloped their windpipe, making every breath hurt. Chara liked to imagine that it was only the metal device doing its work.

"Targets secured," one of the peacekeepers muttered sharply into their helmet, probably towards some microphone. "Two new repressed. Awaiting signal confirmation." The human turned towards Chara's curios gaze. Chara had to force themselves to not shrink away beneath the cold attention of the featureless visor. The helmet turned a bit, as if listening. "Roger that. We'll hurry and proceed to our target destination." With that, the peacekeeper nodded at his colleagues and set himself in motion, towards a narrow path along the woods and farther and farther away from what Chara called home. Three figures with guns motivated the other three to follow. Chara reluctantly followed along with the others, their thought drifting by with the scenery.

The breeze on the surface was weird. Of course, there was wind in the underground too, both drifting in through the barrier, as well as being generated in early regions of hotland and some deeper parts of waterfall. Those were different, filled with the strong scent of minerals and whatever else happened to float in the murky waters. It was the kind of breeze that made you want to lay down on the mushy swamp grass or hot stone floors and wait it out till the breeze either lessened or you were swept away with it.

Chara shook their head. Getting off track. Their head still felt like a jumbled mess, as if they were stuck in a paralyzing nightmare where their thoughts just couldn't keep up with the world around them.

The breeze on the surface, though? It was light and thin and not at all familiar. Even though Chara spent a good part of their life here, the world above ground felt alien to them.

There was that gathering of trees to their right as they walked by. Chara thought they remembered them. Maybe. The child recalled chopping at some trees for firewood, not really doing any damage to the bark, but firmly attempting to do so. Maybe it had been those trees? Chara didn't know the answer to that, no matter how hard they tried to remember.

Recalling their previous life wasn't easy. It was probably for the best.

"i bet you don't know this one yet: what did the skeleton order at the restaurant?"

It seemed like Sans was still busy annoying the peacekeepers, who did their very best to ignore him, marching forward without any reaction. Chara tried to ignore the feeling of the steel collar weighing down onto their shoulders, pressing the chain of their amulet into their shoulder.

"come on. nobody?"

They raised their hands, fiddling around with it till Chara had wretched the chain free of the painful spot and positioned it loosely around the device. It felt strange not having the jewelry's chain touch their neck. Chara tried to suppress the resentment that rose up within them with the sudden loss of the familiar feeling.

"they ordered spare-ribs!" ba dum tss.

No one laughed. There was just the oppressing feeling of impending doom looming over them.

"tough crowd today."

Chara's feet sunk deep into the earth below with every step, reminding them of the ruins. They spotted a few, lone cabins a bit into the woods to the left of their path. One was already a crumbled mess with the others not looking much better. They looked a lot like the ones of Chara's childhood. Did their village even still exist now? Did the old cabins made of jumbled, badly combined wood survive all those winters? At least that beautiful patch of golden flowers was still there. Those flowers survived anything. A small smile spread on their face. That's why they loved them. No matter how hard you stomped on them, how many you plucked from their roots, they would still come back strong in no time. They survived, contrary to humans; contrary to monsters.

Which led to an odd question forming in Chara's head. Were where all the humans? In Chara's experience, at least some fools tended to stick out their curious heads. District 12's surface wasn't exactly the most exciting place. At least it wasn't seven years ago.

Chara stole a timid glance at Frisk, who walked with their head firmly facing forward, never even bothering to look around. They could ask the other human child. Frisk had to know at least something about how the surface was doing. Chara pulled at the hem of their sweater uncomfortably. No, things were already awkward enough with the whole killing the other in another timeline thingy. How would they even start? They couldn't just act like that never happened. Well, technically, it never did, but Frisk still seemed to remember and they kinda knew that Chara remembered too. So that left them with just a few, pretty humiliating options which Chara did not feel like facing right now. Besides, they didn't even care about those stupid humans anyways.

Frisk must have felt their gaze, as they moved their head in Chara's direction.

Panicking, Chara moved to avoid their gaze, stumbling in their haste over their own feet. Thankfully, reflex kicked in as their arms shot out to stop their fall. The soft dirt was forgiving, only muddling their already stained clothes and hands. Relieve flooded through Chara seconds before every muscle in their body convulsed and spasmed. Their body collapsed. Limbs flailed uselessly as everything burned and their senses grew fuzzy. It only lasted a few seconds, but it left Chara panting. They were not sure if their eyes were open. Dark spots blurred and slowly vanished. The child tried to focus on a single patch of grass a few paces in front of them. Their limbs calmed one by one, only leaving a slight tingle at their neck.

The grass swayed a bit, before a pair of black military boots blocked it from Chara's sight.

"Do not make me repeat myself." A cold voice spoke from above. "Try anything funny and you'll feel the consequences. We are already behind schedule. Now get up!"

The child gritted their teeth, shaking palms pushing down into the earth to lift them up. They wanted to punch the voice, the peacekeeper above. Chara wanted to make them hurt the way they hurt them. But the child couldn't. Even if they tried, the peacekeepers would be faster. They heaved themselves to their feet. Chara was utterly powerless.

The peacekeeper's fingers still rested above the pad on their forearm, ready to push the button connected to the device on Chara's neck again.

At last, Chara managed to stand, pulling themselves upright with some effort. Their spiteful glare only met an emotionless visor.

Reluctantly, they began to walk again. This would be a long nightmare.

"Oh for the love of god, what took you so long?!"

Chara honestly didn't know what was freaking them out more. On one hand, there was the giant train made of gleaming metal, formed in elegant curves, before them. It loomed as one massive giant high above, buzzing softly as its engine worked. Like a steel beast waiting to devour them. This was it. This was the transport that would once and for all rip them away from their home. And there was little chance they would come back in one piece.

On the other, there was that lady in the doorway of the train, with a giant feather stuck in her unnaturally curled hair. Bright polka dots offended Chara's eyes as they gleamed from a tight waist, wide cut dress. They didn't even want to think about how that woman walked on those shoes. It was all so incredibly impractical.

Sans moved to speak first, as his eye sockets dimmed, annoyance deep in his voice. "hello, linda. great to see you too."

"What did you do now, Sans? Did you take a nap on the way here?!"

"heh, only with my eyes open. and ty to lower your voice, would ya? we'll have to leave late, feather you like it or not."

Linda only hmphed. Her eyes locked on the two children amidst the peacekeepers. "So you two are the new tributes, aren't you?"

Frisk nodded while Chara narrowed their eyes. Over the top clothing and a high and mighty personality: That woman was from the capitol.

So Chara proceeded to level their glare at the new person towering above.

The woman sighed, nodding to the peacekeepers before stepping back into the depth of the train. "Well then, come on in. We have a long journey ahead of us."

With one last, cautious look at the peacekeepers, the children strode forward. Sans led them with his slouched brand of calmness. The peacekeepers followed behind them.

Linda greeted the children with a thin smile, which, surprisingly, reached her eyes, as they approached. "I am Linda, your escort, by the way. I will accompany you from here on out till your final moments before the games and teach you the proper etiquette for this event. So you two must be…?"

"Thrilled." Chara murmured a bit too loudly, dampening the over exaggerated joy on the escort's face.

"Frisk." The second child responded in their usual monotone.

The first child took a few seconds, before grumbling a reluctant "Chara."

They followed Frisk as they stepped into the oval mouth at the side of the train. The world changed from sunbeams to soft, bright light and velvet covers. Chara barely managed to avoid stopping completely and having a peacekeeper walk into them. That would have been so incredibly bad.

Instead, they managed to slowly make their way into the surprisingly big train compartment. There they were greeted by a large seating corner with a table, as well as a comfy looking couch farther in. And in the middle, cluttered with platters and decorative flowers, was a table that send wave over wave of delicious scents their way. Pastries, pies and sandwiches, along with many other delicious meals covered the space. Despite themselves, Chara's mouth began to water. And was that behind the brownies over there… chocolate?

Linda folded her hands in front of her. "Make yourselves at home. Enjoy yourselves. Just don't destroy any of the interior. Oh, and feel free to enjoy our food and drinks."

Her next words banished any gleeful anticipation that had built up inside Chara.

"After all, you need to be well fed for the parade tomorrow. So dig in!"

-o-

* * *

-o-

Greetings!

Sorry for the wait, everybody. This chapter was kind of a beast to edit, but I think I wrestled it down. More or less, at least.

Anyways, we've now officially left the Underground and started into the outside world. Yay! Picking a suitable escort has been hard. Then I remembered those PTA comics that floated around the Undertale community a few years ago. If you haven't read them already, I highly recommend you check those out. It's basically Sans dealing with your usual PTA crowd. One of those mothers had the fitting name Linda. So there you have it. In a world of deadly reality TV shows, an annoying PTA mother seemed to be the perfect fit for an escort, at least in my mind.

The next chapter should be up a little earlier since the wait for this one has been longer.

See you soon!


	6. It's raining somewhere else

Chapter 6: **It's raining somewhere else**

The compartment's floor rocked slightly as the capitol's train drifted through the dark night. Each swift rise and fall was dampened by the soft mattress and pillow, supporting Chara's small body. The child felt like they were floating as they lay beneath soft covers. At times, the material would get stuck on the human's scruff skin. Chara didn't mind. Their gaze rested on the compartment's ceiling. Even in the darkness, the smooth texture was nothing like the familiar rough stone of their bedroom.

It had been a long day and the most stressful one they ever had. After all that happened, Chara felt like every bit of energy had drained from their body, leaving a frail husk behind. Sleeping should have been easy. Yet, their mind drifted restlessly, keeping them far away from the merciful sleep they desperately needed.

For the first time in years, Chara didn't feel hungry. Their tummy even ached a little from the sudden overload of food. The child wasn't sure if they ever had been this full. Mom tried to feed them as well as she could, but food was never enough.

Chara vividly remembered how Azzie used to pout whenever his plate was clean after too little time. Once, a bunny monster in snowdin with the gift of possessing a rare kind of magic had invited them for supper. It took some time and lots of energy, but she eventually managed to conjure the most delicious cinnamon bunnies out of nothing but snow. Asriel had been amazed for weeks. He'd keep on asking "Mom, can we go to snowdin?" "Dad, I want to try to make food out of snow, like that nice bunny lady did!" "I'll make food for everybody!" Eventually, mom and dad caved. Dad took them there; all of them huddled in thick winter clothing. They couldn't have been older than six, maybe seven years old.

"Now, now, you two. Don't you stray too far" dad had said with that big, warm smile of his. "I'll be staying here. Have fun!"

"Come on, Chara. There's a snow drift right over there!" Azzie. He had been so excited. Chara tried to be giddy too. Even so, life had already taught them that most hopes just stayed to be faint dreams. Till this day, Asriel kept firmly refusing to accept that fact. And at this point, Chara didn't want to change that anymore.

"You should try it too!" Their brother insisted, after the seventh or eighth failed try. The snow just kept melting in his paws, although it shone with a multitude of colors while doing so.

Chara remembered shuffling closer, pulling the warm mittens from their hands. The snow was chilling to the point where Chara's joints began to ache. They had felt for that familiar energy in their chest, the way dad had taught them. Slowly, a dim, red light began to seep through them, brightening slowly till it reached their eyes. The world suddenly was filled with about a dozen white lights all around them, the closest one being an Asriel shaped one right next to them. Yet, as they looked down at the snow, it was just snow. Nothing glowing, nothing changing; it didn't even melt rapidly or light up like Asriel's handful did.

There was nothing special about that patch of snow. It was utterly useless to monsterkind.

The child rolled onto their side, chewing on the memory. That was quite a long time ago. Azzie had ended up trying to do food magic for months. Chara smiled to themselves. He could be quite stubborn when he wanted to be. They liked to imagine that it was Chara's bad influence rubbing off on him.

Deciding that lying around wouldn't do anything besides making them feel homesick, Chara fought their way through the fluffy pillows towards the edge of their compartment's bed. They took a moment to sit at the edge, pulling one of their pajama's legs down that had scrunched up at the back of their left knee. The smooth texture felt strange against their skin. Linda had insisted that they cleaned up.

"You two look like you crawled here on your hands and knees" that woman commented with her annoying, high pitched voice. "Even the tributes last year managed to look better and it was rainy and muddy all the way!"

"give them a break, linda. it's not their fault. one of your buddies decided that things needed to be a bit more shocking for chara here."

"Oh, those annoying ruffians. They know that prolonged shocks from those repressors can have lasting damage. They'll only dampen our tribute's performance in the games by doing that! I'll have to talk to them."

Her critical gaze was once again directed in Chara's direction. The child was way too busy eating a piece from that tasty, creamy chocolate cake with cherries on top to mind.

"Nonetheless, you'll have to clean up after this. Both of you. We cannot have you running around the capitol looking like… this."

Chara looked up from their cake long enough to watch Linda pinch the bridge of her nose.

"There are bathrooms adjoined to your bedrooms in your private compartments. You'll also find an assortment of clothing in the wardrobe next to the bed. Feel free to pick whatever you like. Just don't put on those filthy clothes again."

Needless to say, that didn't make Chara like Linda any more. Chara's favorite sweater might have seen better days, but it was still theirs. A piece of home that mom had made for them. It was hard changing out of that.

"Now I see who I was protecting by keeping you here."

The child shook their head violently, trying to keep the memories of a broken voice out of their head. No, trying to sleep definitely was a bad idea.

They hopped down from the edge of the bed, bare feet touching a cool wooden floor. Even though it was fairly dark, a few, dim lights shone through from under the compartment's door. Chara felt their way towards it, careful not to bump into anything. As they neared, the door slid open by itself, revealing a small corridor running parallel to the bedroom and bathroom. The child followed it in the direction that they recalled led to the shared compartment were Linda had greeted them.

Dim lights shed little shadows throughout the large common room. The table now was empty with no trace of the mess Frisk and Chara had left behind only hours ago. The child couldn't imagine Linda getting her hands dirty. And Sans was far too lazy to clean anything up in his own house, let alone dishes belonging to the capitol. It was probably one of the servants that Chara had observed flittering around.

At the very back of the compartment, a cushioned seating space was set beneath a big window showing the path their train had taken. Each and every bit brought then farther away from home and closer to their doom.

Chara had already made it halfway towards that window when they noticed that they were not alone. "So you couldn't sleep either?"

Frisk turned their head slightly, kneeling on the cushions with their body towards the window. It was the only acknowledgement that they even heard the other child.

Chara proceeded to step towards the glass surface, already used to Frisk's silence. Using their hands to help them, they, too, rested themselves atop the cushioned seating space next to Frisk, ignoring the awkward feelings whirling around in their gut.

The view was great, despite the darkness, with parts of the rails vanishing into the night at dizzying speeds while other parts appeared from beneath the train. Above, the star's twinkled with startling beauty. Chara had forgotten how a real night sky looked like. If only Asriel could watch it with them.

"Why are you even sitting here" commented Chara with a sideway glance at Frisk's forever shut eyes. "You can't even watch any of the stuff outside."

"It's slightly cooler."

Chara perked up at the unexpected answer.

"And I also like the feeling of the train shaking." There was a moment of quiet. "What about you?"

"Me? I don't know. It's quiet. And I like watching the stars, I guess."

For a good while, no one said anything. They just both sat there in silence, each of them lost in their own world of thoughts. Chara could hear Frisk's soft breath over the humming of the train's engine. Not too long ago, they hadn't been breathing at all. And it was all Chara's fault. Frisk probably hated them after that. Who wouldn't. Chara had murdered them and not in a painless way at all. And soon, they would both be in the arena, fighting for their lives. Only one would make it out alive. Maybe not even one of the two of them. The winner would get everything: Enough money to spend the rest of their life without a worry and enough food for the whole district to last them through a year without anyone having to die of hunger. It was perfect. Yet, Chara's chances weren't great at all. They didn't have tons of muscles or any awesome ability to speak of. Frisk, however, could just turn back time as often as they wanted to.

Chara watched the other child out of the corner of their eye. Clad in a similar pajama as Chara's own Frisk looked incredibly small and vulnerable, when in truth, they were the perfect tribute.

"Frisk…" Chara struggled to find a good start, opening and closing their mouth a few times in a fruitless attempt of creating the right words. "Frisk, I wanted to tell you… that I'm sorry. It probably doesn't mean anything to you after what I've done, but… I'm really sorry for what I've done to you. It's unforgivable."

"I forgive you."

Chara blinked, staring at nothing in particular for a moment as their well prepared, emotional speech just went up in smoke. They had prepared themselves for resistance. An argument, maybe. Anything that wasn't this. "Err, what?"

"I forgive you." Frisk repeated the words as if it was the most common thing in the world.

"…Why?"

"Well, for one, mom said that we should try to forgive people."

Chara raised a skeptical eyebrow. "For eating candy before supper, maybe. I don't think she meant murder."

"And also, it wasn't so bad. You were confused. People are like that at times. Monsters have acted similar to that before."

"When?" Chara didn't remember a single monster ever trying to murder Frisk. Or even say a rude word to them. Monsters weren't like that.

Frisk shuffled so they were facing Chara more directly. "They sometimes remember when I reset. They are often confused. Some are frightened. No one had ever really remembered, though. Not like you."

That was concerning. And confusing. Chara tried to pick their way through the new information. "So when you reset, you restart time? Like when we were back at the reaping?"

Frisk nodded.

"And people usually don't remember what happened during these other times? Those ones that you erased?"

A nod again. "I've reset for the first time a few weeks ago. After my repressor burned up."

Chara recalled how Linda had called the collar that. Their fingers softly touched the cold metal. Underneath they still could feel the phantom pain of their own scar. Those things don't take the barrier well.

"I met Toriel." Frisk continued. "And I met you and Asriel and dad."

Chara still remembered that day well, the way they remembered every time another human fell down. It was why the royal family formed a tradition of having a picnic in the ruins every now and then.

"You and Asriel showed me the ruins. But then I heard a noise. It scared me. I ran into a puzzle. There were spikes. Then I was in that first room again. Stuff like that happened a few times."

Frisk plucked at the hem of their shirt, seemingly unfazed by the memory of dying. Chara tried to concentrate on the conversation as possibilities and speculations flooded their mind.

"So you have to die to… what did you call it?"

"Reset. Like in video games."

"Oh, like that program Alphys made that mom doesn't like."

They had to pause for a second as the train jumped a bit, making them both grip their seats tightly.

"Yes, like that. And I don't need to die. It also works if I remember a moment in time firmly enough. I think I'm marking them in time. I always come back to specific moments. Save points. They don't change. Only in case I set a new one."

"Back then when my name was called, did you mark that moment too?"

"Yes."

"Do you have a limit to the times you can reset?"

"I don't know."

"Does your body come back with you or just your mind?"

"I'm not sure."

"And you've learned all of that in just those few weeks in the underground?" Not that Chara was jealous, but it had taken them years to figure out how to control just the meager bit of power that they had.

"Yes."

"Could you reset now?"

Frisk touched their own collar, frowning slightly. "I don't think I can. Trying might hurt. I couldn't before I fell down."

"Figures. I couldn't use my power before that either. You're really, absolutely sure that no one else remembers those resets?"

"It think so."

"That's amazing!"

"It is?"

"Of course it is!" Chara couldn't stop the wide grin from spreading on their face. Just keep it innocent. "That power of yours must be great in combat. Fighting in the arena will be super easy."

Frisk shifted uncomfortably, their hands tangling in a nervous knot. "I'm not good at fighting. I don't react fast when people move rapidly around me. Or if there are loud things around."

"Yeah, I've noticed. You trip a lot, don't you? You're lost in chaotic situations. You're right. You probably wouldn't last a second in there alone." Time to plant the right idea. "But if you had a guide, someone who knew how strong the people around you were, what they were doing, you'd be unstoppable!"

Chara reached forward, grasping a surprised Frisk's hand. "Lucky for you, that's exactly what I'm perfect at doing. My power allows me to see my enemies for what they truly are. I'll be your guide, your partner."

"And we'll be able to survive?"

"Together, we'll be able to do even more than that. We'll be unstoppable. Let us eradicate the enemy and become stronger." Chara smiled at the sudden hope blooming in their own chest. A perfect plan. "What do you say, partner?"

The train rattled as soft moonlight fell into the compartment, illuminating their joined hands.

"Yes."

"Then it is agreed. We'll be together forever."

Chara may not be able to change snow into food, but they were determined to feed their family, their home, no matter what. And thanks to that small human across from them, they would be able to do so. They would be victorious.


	7. CORE Approach

Chapter 7: **CORE Approach**

"And that male tribute from district 2, my, he will certainly have no trouble to get lots of lady sponsors."

"eh, or maybe we'll be lucky and he'll just keel over at the beginning. From the looks of it, he's just skin and bones."

Chara rubbed their eyes, trying to break out of the space between sleep and wakefulness. Chatter drifted by without making much sense to their sleepy brain.

"though, I guess career districts are always trouble. not a skeleTon of luck there."

Something hard was poking Chara in the side. Annoyed, the child tried to push it away only for it to twitch and painfully ram itself into their side. Ugh, Chara knew that motion. "Azzie, get out of my bed! You've got your own!"

Not only did their brother not respond to the mumbled command, but something also gnawed at the back of Chara's mind. Something wasn't right. They probably should find out. But to do that, they had to wake up and they really didn't feel like it.

Pushing away the feeling for later, they grasped for their covers to pull them back up; only that there weren't any. Guess Asriel had claimed those too.

"I think they're waking up. Finally."

"don't get your hopes up."

It was getting pretty cold, though. The light was far too bright as Chara opened their eyes just the tiniest bit. Who had turned it on? Not wanting to wait for the world to come into focus, they reached for their power. If only they could make out Asriel's position a bit more clearly, they would know where the blanket- "GAH!"

In one swift motion, they crashed to the floor, body burning painfully. The child's fingers twitched as they reached towards their throat, the part where the flaming sensation emanated from. Where warm skin should have been there now was cold metal.

Chara flinched as thin fingers came to rest on their shoulder.

"hey kid, are ya alright?"

It took them a few seconds to process the words and a few more for their eyes to get used to the light. After some time, they recognized Sans standing over them, with Linda hovering in the background.

"Y-yeah." They didn't like the way their voice shook. It took them a few tries, but Chara managed to stand up by themselves.

"Are you hurt?"

Surprised, Chara turned towards the soft voice. Frisk still sat by the window. Just like last night.

Last night. Had it all been a dream?

No… they were here. They must have fallen asleep.

Realizing that they already stood in the middle of the room like a deer in headlights for some moments, Chara hastily opened their mouth. "I'm fine. Thank you."

"You used your power, didn't you?!" Chara actually startled a bit at the stern tone as Linda loomed over them with her hands on her hips.

Outwardly, the child raised an eyebrow, smiling defiantly up at the towering woman. "No, I tried to do a handstand, of course. And how do people even live with this fricking thing on?! How am I supposed to do anything if this stupid machine shocks me every two seconds?!"

Their escort let out an exasperated sign. "Just don't use that horrendous power of yours, with whichever one you were cursed. It's for your own protection. You could seriously hurt yourself and the people around you otherwise."

Chara couldn't help themselves. They had been holding this in for a long time. Monsters were delicate, but this capitol woman would surely manage to hear the truth. They took a step closer. "How?! How would I hurt anyone. Last time I checked, my power couldn't hurt a fly! How are you supposed to hurt someone by just looking at them?!"

"You might be one small case but there are millions of subjects like you in those districts who could do far more damage. The war was enough proof of that."

"Who cares? My power doesn't do any harm. I wasn't even born back then. Frisk wasn't born back then. Why do we have to suffer for things we weren't even around for?"

"I am not going to discuss complex politics with a child!"

"So that means you agree that I'm right, doesn't it?"

Exasperated, Linda turned towards the monster in the room, who watched the whole thing unfold with apathetic passiveness.

"Sans! A little help here?"

"nah, you've got this covered."

The escort gritted her teeth. Chara couldn't help but relish in pride at having successfully angered a capitol citizen. "Fine! Let's just eat. You two have a long day ahead of you and I don't want a tribute of mine fainting during the parade. Not again." With that, Linda whirled around towards the table, her dress flailing in her wake.

Chara still fumed but accepted the partial win. They curiously gazed in the direction Linda was headed, laying their eyes onto something that lifted their spirits immediately: Food. And lots of it. Only now did they realize the smell in the air wafting towards them. Giddily, they followed their escort, seating themselves in a comfy plush chair. Trees swished by outside of the windows; more reminiscent of the jagged pine trees of snowdin than the lush, leafy world they had walked through just yesterday on the surface of district 12.

Frisk hopped onto the chair next to them, hands gingerly feeling over the delicate silver tableware. Meanwhile, Sans poured himself into the seat between Chara and Linda, immediately pulling out a large bottle of ketchup from seemingly nowhere, dumping it into one of the pristine golden rimmed glasses. Linda made a face and Chara smiled.

"heya kiddos." Sans began, chugging down a few sips of red, gooey liquid. "just a heads up by the way. try to not do any magic with those thingies on. they are fueled by your magical energy, so every time you use that energy for something else, they get cranky and zap you." Sans chuckled, casually leaning back. "trust me, you don't wanna have that too many times. messes with your power. tibia honest it aint pretty once you use your powers again."

Chara grabbed their fork, stabbing a few pancakes that were in their reach, dragging them over to their plate, thinking. "So no one in the districts can use their powers without having that repressor shock them every time, right? The only time I've ever seen people from the districts without that was in the hunger games." They bit into their pancakes, savoring the taste. "The only other time was the underground, of course. So shouldn't we have a big advantage, coming from beyond the barrier? I mean, dad tried to teach me some magic and some of the other fallen ones could do some cool stuff."

The child looked from Sans to their escort and back. "Why is it we haven't won every game yet?"

Sans took a moment to examine the contents of his glass, swirling it around like the grossest wine ever. "nah, kiddo. if it were that easy, i'd be well on my way to taking a week long nap."

He leaned forward, putting the glass down on the table in front of him. "as it is, there actually happens to be a powerhouse around every now and then."

"Savages" Linda commented, stabbing her single strawberry pointedly with a fork. "One of them nearly destroyed the whole arena in a single hit a few years back. Thank goodness he didn't win."

"sometimes, training and a skull full of knowledge just don't hold up against raw strength" added Sans. He pulled a platter of cut fruit away from Frisk's searching arm before they could knock it over.

"then you have the career districts. have ya ever wondered how there are so many peacekeepers walking around the districts? for that job you need a spine and we're talking about capitol people here."

Linda seemed very busy examining her strawberry, apparently used to Sans being Sans.

Chara looked dubiously at the monster, swallowing another bite of their pancake. "That leaves people from the districts. Who the heck would even want to be a peacekeeper?!"

Sans chuckled. "a bunch of 'em, actually. district 1, 2 and 4 have even specialized in that kinda stuff. they've got training areas with deactivated collars and are pretty much raised for the job. brainwashing, but that's just my spin on it. hey, do ya need that glass?"

Chara reached over, grabbing their own shiny glass and handing it over to Sans.

"thanks. anyways, they are the ones to look out for. they've got years of training and winning the games is a real career boost."

The hot tempered child huffed, munching on the last bite of their pancake. "So we're either crazy powerful or stupidly talented at using our powers or we lose." Their fork came down with an audible thump, connecting with the table.

"basically," Sans confirmed.

"What about teaming up?" Everyone turned their head towards the quiet child. Even Linda stopped to act distracted. "What about working with others?" Frisk continued, "ones that know how to survive."

The skeleton leaned back, eyeing the child lazily. "yeah, guess that makes sense. alliances can be lots of help. but be careful who to trust. in the games, wrong friends will crack your spine faster than any attack."

The woods outside thickened for a moment, casting the compartment in dark shadows.

"after all you never know who to trust. maybe you shouldn't even trust me. eyes are everywhere."

Chara felt the hair on their skin stand on end. But as soon as the moment had begun, it passed again.

Sans took a sip out of his gooey glass, letting his head fall back against the back of his seat. "but hey don't sweat it both of you. for now you've got plenty of food to enjoy. your bones need it to grow. so let's dig in."


	8. CORE

Chapter 8: **CORE**

Chara rolled back and forth on their feet, hands nervously grasping the slim windowsill in front of them. This was going to be okay. Actually, it was going to be stupid. Capitol people were stupid. So there really was no reason to be anxious about anything. No reason at all.

Frisk stood beside them, even though their closed eyes couldn't see the trees whizzing by beyond the glass plate in front of their face. Maybe they were just as tired to sit around as Chara was.

"How long till we reach the capitol?" Chara asked almost mechanically.

Their escort released a small sigh. "You'll be able to see it any second. It's just past this park. Like the last hundred times you've asked me."

"Ok."

Chara's ears picked up on the soft clicking sound of Linda's long nails connecting with the screen of the device in her hands. Soft snores drifted from Sans' direction. The train filled the silence with an eerie hum, by far quieter than any machine's sounds at home.

"What do you even need a park for?"

The clicking stopped. "It's for relaxing, obviously."

"We have a place like that at home."

Chara could feel the escort's eyes on the back of their head, clearly surprised by the new topic. "Oh?"

"It's called Waterfall. It's beautiful. Giant waterfalls rush through the caves. Flowers sing. We played there a lot; me and my brother."

"That, indeed, sounds like a beautiful place."

Chara smiled at the window, a bitter lump forming in their throat. "Yeah, it is. Last year, the capitol began dumping something onto the surface of our district. You wanna know how the adults found out?" Their fingers tightened around the sill. "Everything started to die. The water got murky and everyone who drank from it just got sick. That's how they knew."

There was a pause, the sound of Linda licking her lips. "I'm sure there was a greater reason for that. The emperor is a gracious man. He wouldn't harm you without a greater benefit. As dangerous as some of you are, all are given a chance to prove their right to live."

Chara scoffed. "Then why not be gracious and dump it into that park out there? It seems to me like you've got enough room for it."

The escort gave a titter of a laugh. "It's for leisure. You don't dump waste into that. What would people be thinking?"

"Well, guess what we were thinking-oh. Whoa." The child forgot their train of thought, as suddenly the last trees slid by, allowing the view on a broad lake that glimmered like a thousand tiny diamonds in the bright sunlight. And beyond that, mountains stretched towards the sky, topped with snow that created a stark contrast to the dark rock below.

"That's it" their escort announced proudly. "The capitol."

Chara looked closer, noticing that what they had assumed to be thin rock columns in the middle of the mountains glinted strangely in the sunlight. "Are those houses?"

"Skyscrapers" Linda corrected.

"whatcha so surprised about, kid?"

"Gah!" They hadn't even noticed Sans waking up. And they definitely didn't hear him walking up behind the two children. "Greetings, Sans. Do you always have to sneak up?!"

"eh, sorry for scaring you right out of your skin. but you've seen plenty of skyscrapers in new home, haven't ya?"

Chara looked at the giant structures that were rapidly approaching. "Of course I have. But it's different with a sky above and all of that." And not having them halfway crumbled to pieces.

"It's magnificent, isn't it?" The child didn't pay Linda even a glance.

"How does it look?" Chara turned their head to Frisk, who had their attention directed at them.

The first child took another glance outside. If looked at closely, the skyscrapers reminded Chara of river stones found in the clear waters of Snowdin. The lake connected to it only emphasized the similarity with the dark treetops scattered in the distance. Realizing that Frisk was still waiting for an answer, Chara tore their gaze away. "It doesn't look like much, honestly. It's a bunch of over the top buildings and some water around it; typical capitol stuff. I bet they don't even have as awesome winters as Snowdin does."

Frisk nodded, apparently satisfied.

Chara scratched absently at their collar as they drove closer and closer to the city beyond the glass. As pretty as it was, it still was their hell for the next few days. Another prison that they were delivered to. And each bit that they got closer reminded Chara of how close they were to that fateful day when they would enter the arena. 24 would enter. One would come out still breathing. And the child dreaded who that one person would be.

Even though Chara could have waited a thousand years and a day for the day of the arena to come, they wished that maybe, just maybe, they could skip past some parts in the middle. One of them being annoying capitol people.

"I hate them."

"Be nice."

"They tried to touch my sweater."

"They were exited and you'll have to get out of that old thing in a moment anyways."

The child gifted Linda with a glare, hugging themselves and their clothing protectively. After what felt like forever, they had managed to make their way out of the train and onto a shiny car that would deliver them to an even shinier building. The only problem were the hundreds of people trying to fit all at once into the train station in between. Even with Peacekeepers guarding a path between the two points, the living mass of feathers, hats and what probably was supposed to be clothing tried to push closer. Every human in the capitol seemed to want to get a look at their newest entertainment source, ready for slaughter.

Chara pulled at the woven threads beneath their fingers. It was strange seeing the ones responsible for their enslavement, for bringing so much suffering to Chara's family and friends, blabbering and laughing with excitement at the sight of their new tributes. Didn't they realize that Chara hated them? That they wanted nothing more than to rip their fricking throats out?

The picture of a body lying in a sea of red briefly flashed in their mind.

No, of course they didn't think that. Even though they were humans, they weren't like Chara. They had never felt real pain. They would never know what losing everything felt like.

The glossy elevator walls around them glimmered with pure glass opposite to the closed doors. Through them, they could see the ground rushing away from them at a gentle speed. It was so much like the elevators at home, the ones built throughout Hotland. Yet again they hummed too quietly and just weren't quite right. A burning feeling tucked at Chara's heart, but they tried to ignore it.

No familiar elevators or loving faces. No butterscotch cinnamon pie, no love, no laughter. Chara took a deep breath. They were on their own now.

A faint ding signaled the end of their ride.

It didn't matter if their family was there. Maybe it was for the best. Monsters weren't built for this. The games were made by humans and it would take a human to beat them. Chara's lips split into a smile.

The elevator's doors split open, revealing a giant, bright room.

They could do this.

"Oh, finally, what is it with you darlings never being too early."

They couldn't do this. Chara instantly took a step back into the elevator as something soared towards them, yellow tape in hand. But it was to no avail, as the creature successfully cornered them, coming uncomfortably close and well beyond any personal space boundaries that Chara had retained after years with a sibling.

"Hmm, average height for your age, a bit skinny, but that's to be expected." And the creature could talk.

"i like to think of it as bony" Sans provided from the other side of the elevator.

The creature didn't spare him a glance. "I don't talk to people in slippers. Come back when you've found a sense of taste. Now let's see, that's a rather pale shade…" The words drifted off into mumbling, as the creature stretched the tape over different parts of Chara's body. As shock slowly faded from Chara's mind, the child began to recognize the thing whirling around them to be a woman. Maybe. The dark, straight bob around her head shifted every now and then, revealing a round face that was scrunched up in concentration. Chara could see their own, bewildered eyes reflecting in the woman's chunky glasses, as she moved to put the yellow tape around Chara's head. The child tried to shift away, but was stopped by the elevator's walls.

Finally, the strange woman took a step back, allowing Chara some much needed space to breathe. A piercing gaze swept over the tribute. Finally, the woman nodded to herself. "The section around the shoulders will have to be adjusted, but that won't be a problem. Yes, that will do." And with that, she swept away to assault Frisk, who had already tried to find cover behind Sans; to no avail.

Sans shared a sympathetic glance with Chara, who tried to adjust their sweater and regain their dignity. "may i introduce to you: edna, your design-ated stylist. she'll be there to fabricate a new outfit for both of you every time people around here feel like gluing their eyeballs to a screen."

The child made a face, eyeing the small adult. Linda was bad enough, but now a stylist? "why can't we just go like this?" Their sweater was perfectly fine. It was the nicest thing they had. And mom had made it.

The small creature whirled around, huffing at them like a disgruntled rat. "Darling, this is not the kind of event for that." She flicked a finger in the direction of Chara's clothing, as if she was touching a particularly nasty piece of trash. "We're not going for pity here. Trust me, that won't get you far. People need someone to root for. A hero, or an antihero at least! Something with quality, not like that terrible brand merchandise that TV annoyance sells. They need gloss, glamor, something shiny with lots of glitter. They're like magpies, honestly. Now get in here, we don't have time!"

Chara reluctantly moved out of the elevator, more to get away from the lady than anything. The tall room in front of them rose high till it carved into a glossy ceiling with expensive lights. The interior was currently covered in endless rows of racks filled with fabric that looked far too similar to the feathery glory that covered Linda's body. The child took a deep breath. This was going to be harder than expected.


	9. Death by Glamour

Chapter 9: **Death by Glamour**

This was it. Chara took a deep breath, trying to keep calm. This would be war and they were at a clear disadvantage. Well, they would always be at a disadvantage, even in the arena. But in there, Chara could at least fight with a knife in hand. There were no knifes allowed here.

The child looked around at the big hall buzzing with movement. Horses strapped to fancy carriages stomped their hooves nervously. Escorts and stylists hurried around giving their charges the final touch. And amidst the chaos were Chara's enemies, their rivals. The child spotted a boy and a taller girl clad in colorful steel armor that twirled and split in useless ways, evident by the boy gradually failing to hold his balance. Another boy, this one older, stood with annoying smugness, clad in fine metals and a weapons belt, a long cloak reminiscent of a peacekeeper's armor billowing behind him. He had to be one of the two tributes from district 2, no doubt.

"Now hold still, just let me move this one slightly there."

Chara's body twitched in annoyance, trying to get away from Linda's prying fingers. "It's fine!"

They gripped the upper edge of the carriage tighter in annoyance. It was just as pompous and over the top as everything else in the capitol. Its shimmering, dark surface glimmered in the hall's artificial light and bold silver accents lined the edges. Outside, beyond the gates, voices buzzed and fused with soft music keeping the masses entertained.

At last, the escort ceased to assault Chara's private space and moved on to Frisk. The other child took it in stride, staying still and waiting for it to be over with. They wore a similar outfit to Chara's with their darker skin giving the impression of Frisk being a precious mineral themselves. Thin wisps of coal dust seemed to dance around them in a tantalizing swirl. It was funny how the capitol imagined coal dust. Never did it dance or swirl. It just clung to you and clogged your lungs. It always stained Asriel's fur black. Chara had never really dwelled on that fact. Was Azzie working right now?

"On your positions, everybody. We start in three minutes!"

Linda sighed, nervous hands hovering over the false ore on Frisk's left forearm. "Well, I guess I'll have to get going. Remember: Just wave and smile. And don't mess this up!" With that, she hurried along, walking briskly with the majority of the crowd towards the doors at the back.

Chara watched her go with a strange feeling of disconnectedness. Only a few members of the capitol remained, along with a good amount of peacekeepers stationed at the side. Their practical military gear formed a strange contrast to the incredibly impractical thing that seemed to be the capitol version of clothing.

The child felt their palms sweating against the polished wood of the carriage. They risked a sideway glance at Frisk as their vehicle was led towards the end of a slowly forming line. "So, this is it."

A curious thought occurred to Chara, sending a sly smile onto their face. "Hey, Frisk. Are you planning on smiling for the crowd today?"

They just shrugged, their mouth staying in that neutral line.

Hah! Foolish human. Chara would get them to express something! After months of seeing that same expression on the other child, this would be the day. That was their new and most important goal for the next few minutes. And they'd be victorious! "Linda said that we would have better chances if we smiled and looked cute. So how about it? Wanna show the world your best smile?"

Frisk seemed to contemplate that for a moment. Their carriage finally stopped behind what appeared to be two people dressed as a cob of corn and apple respectively. "I'm not sure if I should smile. What if it looks fake? What if they notice and like me less?"

Chara chuckled. "Aww, that's cute. But firstly, those dumdums don't even know the difference between a fun game and a bunch of psychos trying to murder each other. Secondly, I'm sure your smile is just fine. Just show me and I'll tell you if it's ok."

Frisk shifted uncomfortably. "Your smile looks scary. Why wouldn't mine look bad too?"

Chara tried to keep a calm appearance and not strangle their new partner for the second time in two days. "Mine looks scary and Linda still seems ok with it. Did you even listen to my first point?!"

A bass began to thump in a steady rhythm outside of the hall's big front gate, followed by its melody.

One of the capitol's people walking along the carriage line towards the back still managed to outmatch the loud thumping from outside. "Quiet down, everyone!"

Chara caught a sign of the man's face. It was twisted in excitement as it passed their carriage.

"We go in 10 Seconds!"

The child inhaled, trying to keep their body calm and composed.

"Nine"

Their life might depend on their performance today.

"Eight. Seven. Six."

This was it. This was war.

"Five. Four."

Not a war of blood and sweat, but a war of opinion.

"Three. Two."

Getting people to like them.

"One."

Chara definitely preferred fighting in the arena over this kind of battle.

"It's showtime!"

The gates opened and they were greeted by chaos.

It was loud. Masses howled out of tune with the all surrounding music. To Chara, it was like a beast opening its maw to swallow them whole. They grew up around monsters, but this, this was way more terrifying than any monster could ever be.

The child looked at Frisk, who calmly gazed in their direction, closed eyes creasing in a calm, crescent shape. They could do this. They would do this. Partners in crime.

The first carriage had already departed from the hall, which left a pair of sparkling figures following suit.

Two small, treelike dressed children were rolling out into the bright sunlight as district 12s carriage finally gained some motion. Chara held on tight as to not fall from the small platform that raised the two children above the rim of the carriage.

The sounds were even more deafening outside. Chara had to blink a few times to get used to the sudden sunlight. A long canyon with walls made of stands housing hundreds, probably thousands, of humans stretched on ahead. Giant torches lined the upper edge of the stands, at times trading places with a big screen or two. All of them currently showed the two, tiny humans from district 12. Clad in dark costumes of coal, with Chara's skin blazing brightly through and their short hair swirling in the wind, they didn't recognize themselves at all.

The child put on their biggest smile.

Showtime indeed.

Wave and smile, wave and smile, they chanted to themselves. The masses roared in tune.

Chara felt a bit of their tension melt away as hundreds of eyes rested on them. Maybe thousands, counting the cameras. It wasn't something that came to the child naturally, yet it felt easy. After all, these people didn't judge Chara. They didn't judge their actions, their choices, their life. Not yet, anyways. Now, they judged a performance and a performance Chara could manage. Performing was way easier than facing reality.

As Chara raised their arm to wave at the crowd, the child imagined each and every one of those people burning up in flames. The thought brought an almost genuine smile to their lips.

Chara had to grasp onto the carriage tightly to keep their balance as it swayed ever so slightly. The bright lights felt heavy, the sound all consuming. Leaning over slightly, they spared a glance at Frisk, who stood there still as a statue.

"Come on, partner." They weren't even sure if Frisk could hear them over the roaring sounds and vibrant melody. "A smile for the crowd, just once. It's easy and those gullible idiots will love it!"

Chara gave them their sweetest smile, continuing to wave to the passing masses. "Just wave and smile, like me."

"It's still scary."

"Ugh."

"And I won't."

Chara rolled their eyes, but quickly brought back the cheerful expression as they remembered where they were. "Suit yourself. If you don't wanna heighten your chances of survival, that's fine."

"It will help me survive?"

"As a secret from one partner to another, it probably will."

That did it. Chara watched in silent awe as the edges of Frisk's mouth turned ever so slightly.

Chara faced the crowd, smiling victoriously. Mission accomplished! Now they only had to survive this nightmarish hell for a little bit longer. While busy with smiling and waving and dreaming of flames, their carriage slowed down in what felt like seconds to the child. A giant square made of cobblestone marked the end of their journey. Large stands continued on at a distance, framing the place and covering up what Chara could only guess were giant mansions. The carriages assembled around a fountain that reached as high as some of the highest caves in the Underground. And right at the front wall, untouched by the stands, loomed a palace more luxurious than Chara could have ever imagined. To be honest, its oversized proportions looked pretty silly to the child.

The music faded to a dramatic end, melting into the sound of thousands enthusiastically applauding. Chara's eyes travelled up the massive columns framing a large, marble balcony. The ruins must have looked similar once upon a time. Back when only a small fraction of the monsters lived underground. Back when the Underground was no more than a small mining town; back before the rebellion.

Cameras zoomed in on the tributes, cutting from one close-up to the other, displayed on millions of screens. Happy families huddled in front of screens all around the capitol, friends watched in exited glee. Somewhere, far away, four monsters huddled in a lab, projecting the distorted images salvaged from an authorized stream onto a large wall.

The child glanced at the three big screens that they could spot from their position underneath the searing spotlight. Sweat trickled through a heavy layer of makeup, as they stood on their unmoving carriage. They were suddenly aware of how unprotected they were, out in the open like that. With thousands, no, even more, potentially hostile eyes on them. They'd not be able to protect themselves like that, more so now that they had stopped moving.

The clapping seemed far too loud all of a sudden, crushing them with merciless thundering noises. Chara's breath grew shorter as their fingers strained against the edge of the carriage. It was too bright, too loud. There were too many unfamiliar smells. They were right here, on the silver plate for anyone from the capitol who wished to harm them. This was too much.

"I'm scared." Chara's eyes focused on the sight of their fingers, as the voice rose from their memory. Azzie had said that many times, often over little things. "I'm scared. There are too many people out there." He'd often say that before official events, with those big, watery eyes. "What if I embarrass myself? O-Or worse: What if I embarrass mom and dad, or you?"

Chara would often laugh, rolling their eyes at the fuss their brother was making. "Oh, come on, Azzie. It's no big deal. Besides, you're the royal prince. Everyone adores you and you know it." That one, that moment had been right at the beginning. Barely a month or two after Chara had fallen down. They were both drowning in those giant tunics mom had sown them. They were so small. "Besides," Chara had smiled, looking at the side, cheeks glowing in embarrassment, "you're not the one who doesn't belong. You're not a peasant, a human. You'll be fine as long as I'm there to be a bigger klutz."

The human child took a deep breath, focusing on the veins on their hands, trying to root themselves in the present. Chara would never forget the apprehension that bloomed inside of them, as this timid, shy child that didn't seem to be fit to be a prince suddenly gleamed with hope.

"You're wrong! We can do this, together." Chara drew their hand back reflexively as fluffy fur touched it, but stopped themselves after a moment. Asriel smiled up at them, with those wide, warm eyes. "If we get everyone to be as embarrassing as we are, we'll not embarrass anyone!"

Chara chortled as laughter escaped them. "Nuh-uh, we'll never get anyone to do that."

But their brother just squeezed their hand. "Alone we won't."

Asriel was weak and a crybaby through and through. Yet, standing in front of all those people, all his future subjects, he'd always carried that hope in his words. Hope for himself and hope for the world of monsters. It was that hope which had also reached Chara.

Biting their tongue against the quivering of their body, the child turned up their nose to the world of humans. No way would they let Azzie be the strong one in all of this. That title belonged to them.

The clapping subsided, as the crowd's eyes were drawn to the pristine balcony towering above it all. A curtain at its back swayed slightly as a handful of figures stepped through, gliding to their places with practiced grace. Chara had to suppress their sudden reflex to gag as the crowd cheered again, this time even stronger. The underground loved their rulers because they were all family. These people were sheep, ready to be fed. A young man with a swaying mass of golden hair and the most annoying smile was the last one to step through, before the curtain opened one final time. A priceless cape made of fur slid heavily into view, draped over the wide shoulders of a man who never had known labor, but was used to standing high and proud. Royal, white locks swayed slightly in the wind, framing cold, judging eyes and a cold smile. The way he looked at the masses reminded Chara of a predator, ready to pick his prey. Charles vi Brittania took a stance before the audience, high above in a worlds of marble and gold. Thus the king of Brittania opened his mouth and spoke.


	10. Here we are

Chapter 10: **Here we are**

"Citizens of Britannia," the old voice boomed clearly through dead silence. Tall and proud, the king opened his arms as if to embrace the whole world. "Not all men are born equal. Some are born strong in body; some are born strong in mind. "

Chara tried to stand steadily and calm, yet the mirrored, cold gaze of the king glancing down from the screens at all angles seemed to weight down on them even more than the presence of the real man in front of them did.

"Decades ago, our empire rose in power. Asia, after years of blood and sacrifice, bowed to their rightful masters." The king paused for a moment, letting cheers rise from the ranks beneath him. The smile on Chara's face felt like a hard mask. Behind the upwards turned lips, their teeth were so tightly locked that they were beginning to ache.

The king's words rang far through the masses in front of the palace and over the heads of the tributes, into a magnitude of microphones. King Charles zi Britannia shifted a bit, just so that the nearest ones could pick up the words more clearly. A few miles away in a tightly filled operation room, a member of the capitol's communication center cranked down the audio just a bit to compensate. No one paid any mind to the slightly off transmission strength, that seemed to fluctuate for just a moment.

"There was only one place tainted by weakness left; one step to civilizing the whole world. It was ravaged by barbarians and monsters that were overtaken by their own senseless power. The very land we now stand on was a wasteland. While strong in body, those monsters lacked in common sense."

And even further away from the communication center, a weak signal traveled to the peacekeeper's outposts, keeping any soldier lucky enough to be off duty the opportunity to share this graceful moment with the rest of Britannia. In district 12, a peacekeeper fumbled around behind a large screen in an attempt to fix the slightly distorted audio. They didn't know about the old cables running deep down into the earth that even preceded the war. They didn't know about the section were those cables harmlessly slid through stone and a particular barrier that hummed with energy. And they also didn't know about the cable that bridged away from the old communication line, messily held together by duct tape and anime stickers.

"One's true strength is found in battle. I learned that back then, fighting as the youngest king to ever be crowned for our glorious empire. I've seen it with my own two eyes: Barbarians that could level whole cities in one day, bringing forth the flames of hell with a flick of their wrists." Admittedly, the signal wasn't exactly the strongest that far down and the duct tape solution was far from safe, but it worked none the less. The king's words were thin down there, distorted by a background noise of static. And even though the audio was the only thing left from the speech's live recording, a small group still huddled in front of a large screen with speakers. Grim satisfaction filled the space as proof of their small achievement rung through the room.

"Some shared the face of monsters, while others looked like any man or woman fighting as a noble Britannian, while still harboring the evil power of demons inside of them. I ask you here today to not fall prey to the trap of deceit. While those among the former enemy's lines may at times appear just like you and me, the evil within taints even the purest soul."

A little squeak filled the room, as the smallest figure was suddenly picked up. "You did it! And clear as day, that sweet, sweet audio." Udyne beamed as she squeezed the small lizard monster in her arms. "You cute, wonderful genius!"

"C-Cute?" The lizard looked up at the armored fish monster holding her, momentarily forgetting their main mission. Even the Brittanian king's words seemed to only drift by somewhere far away.

"Some of the tainted were stronger than others. Their powers possessed potential, yet their minds were weak. They needed guidance, but they were tainted by their evil power."

A rumbling noise awakened the two monsters out of their trance, as their true king cleared his throat. "Excuse me, I'm not good at technical matters, but may there be anything I can help you with?" A small smile had crept itself onto Asgore's face. The two hugging monsters sprang apart, embarrassment on their faces.

"E-erm, yes, of course. W-we are already behind on schedule." Alphy's shook her head, trying to clear it. She sent one last look in Undyne's direction, remembering the cooling, strong scales that had wrapped around her body only moments ago. And that beautiful, gleaming eye. No, no, no. Focus! They had waited months for this moment.

"Us, born of pure, Britannian blood, may not possess that power. But we are strong in mind and will. Though we don't harvest the power of demons, we are blessed with knowledge and strategy. It was our strategy that won the war and crushed any roots of resistance."

Alphys rushed over to her displays, listening more carefully to the speech, waiting for pauses or any change of volume that might indicate an end. "J-judging by the usual duration of airtime, we may have about a minute left. Maybe less." Asgore nodded thoughtfully. "Speeches on television should be kept short if one wants the attention of their subjects"

"Judging by the direction this is taking, I'd say we might have half a minute left at most." Toriel piped in for the first time. Her stern expression betrayed the casual robes and reading glasses on her snout. "We should be ready."

Alphys nodded. "Right."

"But we are merciful. We, who rose out of our own strength of heart against all odds, know that even the most tainted being can be put to good use. So instead of crushing those monsters and demons, we chose to give them a chance to prove themselves."

"I'll check in with the guards up front." Undyne gave Alphy's a quick, sideways hug that made the lizard monster blush, before hurrying towards the only entrance to Alphy's lab. The small monster focused on the readings. Their window of opportunity would be incredibly small. Yet, she was hopeful. They didn't have much to work with, but she could make this work.

The royal scientist felt a presence step up beside her. "Is there anything else that has to be done, my dear?" Alphys glanced up at the queen. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she answered "N-no, it's fine. Once the speech is over, the ratings will fluctuate from B-Brittanians changing to different channels and s-such. As soon as that h-happens, we'll be able to send a signal o-out without anyone noticing. Hopefully. I-I think."

The queen smiled calmly down at the younger monster. "You're a brilliant scientist, my child. I'm sure it will work." Her gaze flickered for a moment to the speakers, caring eyes turning to ice as the Britannian king's voice picked up in volume.

"By containing their power, we keep the evil from reaching their already tainted minds any further. By separating them into districts, we protect them from spreading the curse throughout the nation. By giving them work, a purpose, we allowed them to grasp the beauty of civilization. And that is why each year, we allow 24 tributes, two from each district, to prove their worth in front of their loving father nation. So that one of them may prove their strength, just like we Brittanians did in wars of the past."

"Don't worry, my children," Toriel whispered. "We're with you. I won't let any more harm come to you. I promise."

With bated breath, Alphys raised her finger above the button.

"Behold this year's tributes, as one of them will soon prove themselves worthy. May the strongest rise above. Let the Hunger Games begin!"

Send. The place in front of the palace erupted in cheers. The king of Britannia smiled calmly from above, taking in the enthusiastic screams in stride.

The noise thrummed against Chara's ears in painful waves. There were so many humans cheering for the king; a king that wanted the children's death.

Even though there were so many people surrounding them, Chara had never felt more alone.


	11. Can You Really Call This A Hotel

Chapter 11: ** Can You Really Call This A Hotel, I Didn't Receive A Mint On My Pillow Or Anything**

Sans wasn't exactly Chara's favorite monster in the world. But they were never happier to see him than now. Mainly because the child knew that the skeleton had a strict policy against dressing up. So seeing him standing there, as their chariot rolled back down a ramp into the big hall it had started from, it could only mean that they were getting out of that coal outfit soon. And Chara was more than ready for that.

"heya, kiddos. had fun?"

"Not at all" answered Chara with a frustrated scowl as they finally hopped off the carriage. Their skin felt weird from all the make-up and sweat. Frisk jumped down beside them, sending up a small tuft of fake coal dust from their clothing. Chara barely registered their escort standing next to Sans. Her bright dress blended well into the mass of stupid outfits and over the top transportation vehicles.

"heh, no kidding. but show time's over now."

They set out away from the carriage and towards the entrance of an elevator at the back of the hall. "So does that mean we can wear our normal clothes now?" the child asked hopefully.

Linda gave a high pitched laugh. "Oh, no, you won't wear those old clothes anywhere where paparazzi could see you. Even though that might make you more pitiful for the fans…" The woman drifted off into thoughtful silence.

"That's my favorite sweater you're talking about! My mom gave it to me on my birthday" Chara responded with a murderous glint in their eyes. The child was too exhausted to put up a real fight, but they sure as heck wouldn't go down that easily.

Sans swayed a bit to the side to give them a light pat on the shoulder. "No worries, kiddo. I'll hang onto your things for now."

The child pouted, evading a girl their age dressed like a tree, who glanced at them curiously. Chara ignored her. "But you lose stuff all the time."

Sans winked conspiratorially. "and they always show up again."

Chara send him an odd look. "In a tornado in your room, maybe. How does that even happen?"

"with magic and a sprinkle of ketchup"

Chara rolled their eyes at that. Sans: King of non-answers.

"I saw Papyrus spaghetti getting snatched away by a dog once" Frisk threw in. Only a quick grasp by Linda saved them from getting run over by a pair of carriage horses that were a bit too happy to finally be freed from their reigns.

"yeah, whatever, that dog rarely comes back. he'll just run off into our garden, dig a plot hole and drop it right in."

"You have a garden?" Chara wondered aloud.

"anyways, i'll hide it from the dog too. you can bet your bones on it."

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait for the elevator that long. A small group piled up beside them while they waited. A lean boy with perfectly trimmed, blonde hair looked at them with wide, blue eyes. Next to him, a smaller girl that still towered a bit over Chara jumped up and down on the heels of her feet, as if on a sugar rush. Her long hair bounced slightly with the movement, in tune with her expensive, glimmering dress and her partner's glistering cape that she bumped into from time to time. Chara could barely contain their disdain for both of them. Gems and fabrics more expensive than anything in district 12 were casually draped around the tributes. So that was what people from district 1 looked like. The boy deflated a bit as he caught Chara's burning gaze, but the girl just bounced on undisturbed. Weirdo.

They had to share the elevator for a few, very awkward floors. The child form district 12 let out a deep breath as the foreign tributes plus mentor and escort finally left as they reached their floor and the elevator's doors closed again.

"They smelled weird," Frisk commented.

Sans chuckled. "that's perfume for ya. makes you reek of money around the wealthy districts."

Chara crinkled their nose. "I don't like it."

The elevator resonated with a soft ding. Its doors slid open, to reveal a now cleaned up suite. Chara let out a long gasp of breath, as they took it all in. Without the racks full of costumes and invasive stylist, the room was impossibly big. Uselessly formed furniture created a dining area and what loosely resembled a living room with a television. Doors to further rooms made the child itch to explore.

"good thing you're not from district 7. otherwise i'd be worried that you'll take roots." Sans winked at them as he passed by and stepped into the large room.

Chara rolled their eyes. "Do I look like a tree to you?" But they stepped out of the elevator anyways. Their shoes made small noises on the dark, wooden floor.

"eh, I dunno. this topic is branching way too far out of my expertise."

Years of dealing with the skeleton had taught Chara to just ignore the puns. Instead, they moved on to the large windows making up the wall opposite to the elevator. It was strange seeing the wide sky again after all of this time. So many hours were spend trying to explain to Asriel of it looked. Chara just wished they could show him now.

"Thank goodness they've cleaned the place up." They heard Linda commenting somewhere behind them.

Chara tentatively stepped closer to the window, taking in the sunlight that reflected off the tall buildings left and right of their own. New Home had skyscrapers like that, only that the buildings stopped where they touched the top of the caves. Here they just kept going.

"I've told Edna to just pick an outfit and bring it here. But does she ever listen? I'm not even sure if her assistant relayed my message. She just wouldn't answer my calls. How rude."

In the back of their mind, Chara registered Frisk stepping up beside them, letting a hand rest on the cool glass.

"But that's not important now," the escort rambled on. "What's important is to get you two into normal clothes before you flake off any more of that fake coal dust of yours. The floor's already a mess."

"What's out there?" Frisks monotone was nearly too low to pick up, but Chara answered anyways. "It's a bunch of skyscrapers and the clear sky. The streets seem busy."

"Are you even listening?"

"relax linda. the kids seem to be busy playing astronauts. you know since they're spacing out." Ba dum tss.

Linda gave off a low growl. "Sans, that doesn't even work on the children. They don't know what space is."

"I know what space is," Chara butted in, turning to face Linda.

The escort raised an eyebrow. "Really? So now you're listening."

"It's what's beyond the clouds and the sky, isn't it? I've read about it."

Linda gave a thin smile. "Yes, it is. And it's absolutely useless knowledge to you. His great majesty does not allow any exploration off this world. It is for our own good. So why don't you read up on survival tactics or something useful like that? And for the love of our king, change into something less," she made a confused wiggle with her hands, "dusty."

Chara rolled their eyes but complied, heading towards the doors that the escort had dubbed their rooms. The child opened the right one, tentatively stepping in. After navigating through the Underground for most of their life, a space that they knew like the back of their hand, new places felt strange. The room was stupidly big like everything else, with a giant, too fluffy bed taking up a good part of it. A wall of sliding doors hinted at a closet, if the colorful fabric peeking out was anything to go by.

A muffled voice sounded through the wall from the next room over. Their escort's voice answered more clearly. "They should all be more or less your size. Just pick one you like. Oh, I bet purple would suit you really well."

Chara couldn't believe the capitol just wasted that much space on some tribute. The child had been a part of the royal family of monsters for quite some time. Even then they had shared a small bedroom with a monster brother and two to three other humans at one time or another. It was tight and everyone got onto each other's nerves every now and then, but it was still nice. At times, they'd build those giant pillow forts in the middle of the night and Azzie would end up crawled up halfway under the bed in the morning. More out of habit, Chara peeked under the gigantic furniture in their room. Sadly, there were no monsters hiding under their bed today, just empty space.

"i dunno, kid." Chara barely made out Sans' voice through the thin wall and open doors. "you can pick whatever. i like it comfy but you're always free to conTribute your opinion."

The closet proved just as monster free. Instead, they found an array of all kinds of unpractical clothing. Yuck. Chara wasn't even sure how to put on that long, frilly dress, or whatever it was supposed to be. It was like one of Asgore's old robes, just way more complicated.

"Pick something that suits you well." Linda's shrill voice send ice down Chara's back, even from a distance. "Paparazzi tend to at times find their way past security so you have to always look representable."

Chara still remembered how they would raid those old boxes of clothing mom had lying around in the house. Most of the clothes were worn down things from mom and dad. Even later on, mom still preferred to keep the reaped human's clothes in the children's dresser. Asriel and Chara never touched them again though. Instead, they had fun with their parents' old stuff. A soft smile tugged at the edge of the child's lips. And fun they had. So many great afternoons were spend drowning in too large robes, pretending to hold a royal speech. The local froggits loved it.

Linda's chiding went on. "You need to show that you are an honorary tribute to the capitol and holy empire of Britannia."

The adopted royal child looked at the puffy, textile mess in front of them, suddenly knowing exactly how to pick their attire for the rest of the day. Chara let go of the edge of their closet, turning to their room's open door. "Hey, Frisk! Can't decide on an outfit? I'll help!"

About an hour later, a very irritated escort dragged a manicured hand across her face. "Forget what I've said. Frisk, pick the green one on the right with the laces on the back. You two are embarrassing the holy empire."

Frisk glanced over to Chara, who gave the escort a pout, twirling on the spot. "Why? We're just picking clothes." They fanned out the fabric of their current dress with a flourish. There actually were holes to put their arms through. Many holes. Maybe they wore it right, maybe not. It looked silly anyways as they looked at themselves in a lone living room mirror. "It's really hard to decide."

The escort's face grew a shade darker. Sans had already fallen asleep again next to her. "The capitol's wardrobe is not for playing around!"

Chara grinned, mimicking an over the top Britannian, leaning back so far that they nearly lost their balance. "Oh, sorry dear. Of course we're not playing. Oh it's just so hard to decide what to wear when you have tons and tons of clothing made by bloody, happy, district hands."

Dress up may have been more fun at home with an audience of froggits, but seeing their escort getting more and more irritated by the second was the best afternoon game Chara could ever imagine. They twirled around another time in the frilly mass of clothing. Maybe useless dresses had their perks after all.


	12. Another medium

Chapter 12: **Another medium**

Mom's pancakes were the best. There was no question about that. But those giant stacks of fluffy pancakes that the capitol made were ok too, edible and utterly delicious. And maybe if Chara chewed on them long enough, they wouldn't have to go on with their day and everything it entailed. The child sent a glance towards Frisk, who munched on a bowl of what seemed like brightly colored cereals. The collar around Frisk's neck gleamed in the soft morning light. Chara's own repressor weighted down on them, heavy as ever. If it weren't for those blasted collars, Frisk could turn back time again and again. They could just stay at this table forever and ever.

"Did I mention that my son is the best one in his class at math? He's such a bright child. And brave."

Oh, yeah, there was Linda. They'd have to endure their escort for all eternity too. Still worth it.

"Does he fight in an arena against a bunch of other kids who try to kill him?" Chara didn't bother to look up from their pancakes as they asked.

Linda made a small sound through her nose. "No, he's of pure blood. In fact, he's got a bit of royal blood on his father's side. You can see it by that beautiful, healthy skin he's got."

"If he doesn't fight, how is he brave then?" The child took a moment to savor the slightly bitter taste of syrup against the sweet, fluffy taste of pancakes. Every pancake that they ate wouldn't go to a Brittanian.

Linda made a sharp motion with her spoon that took Chara's eyes off their food for a moment. "There is more than one way to be brave. And he is brave in a more," she pursed her lips "intellectual way."

Chara really didn't like that woman. And their food would pay for it. The swallowed another huge bite, washing it down with a big glass of chocolate milk.

"hey kiddo ya think of slowing down any time soon?"

Chara dug into their next bit of delicious fluff. "Nope."

Sans leaned over in his chair, eyes lazily finding their way to the tribute. "you might want to you know. big day today. you guys get to train with the other tributes. show off a bit."

The child plunged their fork into the food, only to pull it out and stab the baked dough again. "But I don't wanna." They looked dully down at their plate. "Besides, what would I even show off?"

Sans chuckled softly. "heh, i get that you're tired of TRAINing after your last ride but it's as good an opportunity as any. you can observe your opponents if nothing else. besides you did a pretty good job on butchering your breakfast."

Chara looked at the mess they'd made. "I guess." Maybe there was some hope left for them. Now their enemies just had to turn into pancakes.

As Chara stepped into the elevator, they critically assessed their reflection. A child in a grey shirt and grey training pants stood before them. A big 12 was painted on the front and back. They seemed even smaller in that outfit.

Sans slouched in next to Chara, closely followed by Frisk. It calmed Chara down a bit that they were not the only one who seemed to drown in that training outfit. They preferred their sweater. Its wide cut hid their thin frame way better than this silky shirt. Chara looked way less frail in their sweater, less vulnerable.

A skeletal finger pressed against the down button and off they were. Thankfully, their elevator didn't pick up any other passengers this time. Not that it mattered much now.

Light swished by in steady intervals through the cracks of their elevator's doors. In the reflection of the walls it reminded Chara of the way the barrier let light radiate in waves over ones features.

"training is not that bad, y'know" Sans commented over the soft humming of machinery.

Chara followed another sliver of light gliding over their reflection with their eyes. If they blended out the collar around their neck, they could almost imagine standing before the barrier back home. "If you say so."

Sans led out a small breath at their remark. "i slept through most of mine back when I was in your place."

Chara felt their collar's vibration against the vibration of the elevator. They tried to ignore the unnerving feeling. It was strange thinking of Sans as a tribute. It was a surprise that he ever managed to put in enough effort to survive. But that was a long time ago.

"napping through that just gave me a bad time in the arena" Sans continued, his voice a casual monotone. "tibia honest with you, going down there, facing the people that will try to make you fall and that you will have to face eventually, it takes a lot of spine."

The skeleton winked at Chara in that annoying way. "you two stand here now with your head held high. so you definitely have the spine you need under that skin of yours. don't worry about it."

Sans let a hand fall on Frisk's head, ruffling the already messy hair. "you'll be fine. both of you."

A small ding indicated the end of their journey down. Chara turned away from their mentor, heart pounding frantically in their chest. It was ok, they could do this. Just like the parade yesterday. With little effort, their face glided into that familiar smile. Scared people don't smile. With that, the doors opened.

It smelled like the tall caverns of Waterfall. That was the first thing that came to Chara's mind as they stepped out of the elevator into a large room. Concrete walls stretched multiple stories up to a point were thick rafters blocked some of the light. A wide panel made of glass was embedded in one of the walls. The light reflecting kept the child from looking in. Just a few feet away, a thick, yellow line stretched through the room from wall to wall, separating the space they were standing on from the larger part of the room. A thick line of fake, steel trees rose high behind the line, accompanied with a variety of what looked like an oversized playground.

"guess i'll be elevating your spirits now by going back up" Sans commented as he slouched next to Chara. "you guys will be alright. and if not, just come back to my napping space."

Chara huffed, eyeing their mentor with a queasy feeling at the prospect of staying here. "You nap everywhere."

Sans kept on grinning. "that i do. play nice." And with that he turned and shuffled back to the elevator in his pink slippers.

The child stood there for a moment longer, watching him go. It felt like their first day of school all over again: Being alone in a new place, feeling powerless. Back then, mom had planted a kiss on their head and told them "everything is going to be all right, my child". And it had been. It had been all right for six years. And now it wasn't.

Chara looked over at Frisk. The other child looked as unconcerned as ever. Not one emotion could breach that stoic face. Chara tugged a loose strand of hair behind their ear, discreetly feeling if their smile was still in place.

Trying to collect their courage, the child turned towards the small group that they had tried their hardest to avoid thinking about. The other tributes were already seated in a large cycle on the ground. With their grey training outfits, the tributes seemed to almost blend into the concrete floor. Only their numbers seemed to catch Chara's eyes.

The child stepped forward, Frisk following their lead besides them. A few heads turned at the noise. Chara tried to emanate confidence the way mom and dad did when they spoke to the public during a crisis.

They noticed the unsteady spacing of the occupants of the circle as they approached. While some tributes sat close to the other tribute from their own district, others seemed to make a point to already sit with a good distance.

Chara chose the biggest opening to seat themselves, letting Frisk sit down closely besides them.

Opposite to them, an adult was the only one remaining standing. She was a burly woman with a hard look and an intricate outfit that was clearly meant to be used to exercise. Small conversations bubbled around them in hushed voices. Chara tried to remain calm. Were the other tributes talking about them? Were they already being accessed?

Sweat began to form on Chara's forehead. Did they already mess up?

No, they couldn't afford to think like that. It was silly. They had been here for a mere minute or two. But the child couldn't deny that the quiet room was getting to them. At least it seemed like most tributes were already here. It couldn't take that long for whatever-this-was to begin. Chara sent the big woman a glare that the adult ignored. Come on. Why didn't they start already?

A soft swish was heard as the elevator's doors opened again. Out stumbled a girl with shimmering, dark hair bound in pigtails and a big 8 printed on the chest. Righting herself just before she hit the floor, the teenager rushed over. "SorrythatI'mlateItriedtobeontimebutmyshirtcaughtontotheelevatordoorandIcouldn'tgetitoutand-" the girl sunk to the floor nearly on top of another tribute who hastily moved out of the way.

The burly woman held up a hand. That effectively stopped the rambling. "I do not care for excuses. You are right on time. Try to be here a bit earlier next time if getting into in elevator is that much of a challenge for you, though." Her hard eyes glided over the assembled circle before her. "That applies to all of you too. Training will begin at 8 pm each morning for the next seven days. At midnight you have to be out of here. Lunch will be served over there," she pointed at a large doorway on their current side of the yellow line, "between 12 and 14 pm."

She turned back towards them, crossing her arms. "Use these next few days wisely. For most of you, this will be the first time to use and explore your abilities." The Britannian woman pointed towards the yellow line a few meters away. "Where that line begins, a field of sensors around here will send a constant signal to your repressors."

The child craned up their neck to try to spot the sensors, but only found concrete walls and a bland ceiling.

"This signal will suppress your repressor's main feature within the assigned area."

Chara perked up at that, as their heart beat faster in excitement. "So we'll be able to use our powers again behind that yellow line?"

The woman sent Chara a sharp glare. "There will be room for questions later."

"Will our powers activate when we walk across the line?" A girl with wide brown eyes and a 7 on her chest chirped excitedly. "Or will we have to activate them ourselves. Oh! Do we have to say a magic phrase or something?"

The burly Britannian turned to the girl. "I will get to that if you stay quiet and wait."

The other tribute from 7, a small boy with a shocking resemblance to the girl, raised a tentative hand. "Does the signal the sensors send out have consistent intervals or could there be a moment where the signal breaks and we suddenly get zapped?"

"Enough!" Chara unconscionably shrunk back a bit at the woman's shout. The Britannian raised a hand to her face, rubbing the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "No, the signal won't break as long as you stay within the area marked by the yellow tape. It is the same technology that allows you to use your powers in the arena, so it has been well tested. And how your powers activate depends on each of you individually. There will be plenty of room for questions over the next few days. So do not. Interrupt. Me!"

She let that sink in for a few seconds before moving on. "Over there, you will find an array of training stations. Each one specializes in a different skill. They range from combat to obstacle and survival stations."

The woman made a heavy step forward into the circle, looking at each of them as she spoke. "There is no combat allowed between tributes before the arena. You'll have plenty of time to take out any animosities on each other there."

Chara had no idea what animosities were, but it sounded bad. They made a note to try to control their temper. A little bit.

"If you do any of that here, your repressor will be manually activated immediately. Got that?"

There were soft nods all around, accompanied by the occasional pain stricken face. Everyone had already experienced the collar's painful shocks one way or another. And no one seemed all too keen to experience it again.

"Good. Wait for your turn at any of the obstacle and combat stations. You'll go into that arena whether you're a healthy tribute with all your bones intact or not. So take care to not get injured and don't do anything stupid."

She took a deep breath, easing up on the heavy glare a bit. "Lastly, do not dismiss the survival stations. Even if your impurity turns out to be the strongest to have ever existed, there is still a good chance that you won't be immune to poisoned water or able to obtain food with whatever you can do."

Chara had to grudgingly agree that their ability wouldn't be helpful with any of this. Honestly, their ability wasn't helpful, period. Still, their magic craved to be used again. The child sent a longing glance towards the yellow line separating them from that beautiful feeling that would make the world a tiny bit better again.

"There is also a high chance that some of you won't be able to use your impurity at all. While your blood may be tainted, such abilities can lay dormant for generations. So take special care on your survival and long range weapon skills."

The Britannian's face turned into a grim smile. "Whenever you have a question or need advice, you can ask me. As long as you do not interrupt me, of course." The woman sent a sharp glance in Chara's direction, who had a hard time showing no weakness under the accusing gaze.

"I will be your head trainer for the duration of your time in the capitol. While I cannot help you with your impurities, I can help you with your physical strength and survival skills. There will also be experts at each station to teach and assist you."

The trainer took a step back. "Now, are there any more questions?"

There was a tense silence as no one wanted to call the group's attention onto themselves. Chara sent an impatient look at the yellow line and obstacles that lay beyond. The sooner they were over with this, the sooner they would get their power back. Now, if everyone just stayed silent, they could be off in a moment.

"Do I get to take my wand into the arena?" It was the same energetic girl asking that Chara had met in the elevator yesterday; the tribute from 1.

Chara felt their teeth smash together behind their smile at the unwanted holdup.

The trainer, however, nodded at the question. She directed her attention to everybody. "That is a valid question. Your impurities fall into different categories. Some of you, declared under the wizard type, will find it easier to channel your ability through an object. However, for most people in that category it is not needed to access your power and only proves as a crutch in battle." The trainer looked towards the girl. "I believe your wand is not physically attached to you?"

The girl shook her head, sending strands of golden hair flying into her face. She clumsily blew some of it out of her line of sight. "Nope." One of her hands reached into her pants' back pocket, producing what looked like a clunky globe with wings stuck on a stick. "It's my mom's old wand." The girl beamed. "She says it has been passed down from queen to queen for generations."

"Then send it back to her" the trainer said with a nonchalant flip of her hand. "You can use it in training, but in the arena you'll have to do without it. So I'd advice to get used to manifesting your impurity properly without it. There is no need for wands and queens in your future. So do not waste your time on that."

Hearing that, the girl seemed to sink in a bit on herself. A pinprick of joy blossomed in Chara's heart at the thought that the career would actually have a disadvantage, despite years of training.

The woman unfolded her arms, letting her gaze drift over the rest of the group. "Anyone else?" But the crowd remained silent.

Chara bit their lip, as their muscles seized with anticipation.

The trainer nodded, apparently satisfied. "Then that's all for now. Go on then. And may the strongest rise above."

As soon as the last word left the trainer's mouth, Chara was up and itching to sprint into the training field. It felt like years had passed since they were last able to use their powers. They hadn't even thought about it that much back then. It was just so natural to use their power every day; until it wasn't there anymore.

Their eyes followed the light haired boy with a 1 on his shirt as he strode towards the field. As much as Chara wanted to just rush in, living with a magical barrier all their life had taught them to be weary of any energy fields and lines. They giddily shifted their weight from one foot to another, as the tribute from district 1 lifted his foot.

And then he was through. The child gave it a second, but the boy didn't look like he would keel over immediately. That was a good sign. Chara grinned from ear to ear as they rushed after him. Unlike the barrier, they didn't even feel the change as they stepped over the bright, yellow line. The child stopped besides a fake tree that indicated the beginning of a metal forest.

They glanced back at Frisk. The other child followed them at a slower pace. Other tributes streamed in besides them, some tentative, others confidently. The girl from 7 rushed in with a wide grin, her long, brown locks bouncing with every step. Her male counterpart, on the other hand, hung back, eyeing the yellow line wearily.

With their back touching the metal bark, Chara felt deep down inside of them. It was just like when their brother had showed them, so many years ago. Right after he found them. The child closed their eyes, a hand touching their chest, feeling for the energy coursing through their veins. For just a moment, a memory of pain at activating their powers flashed before their minds eye. But years of experience banished it in just a blink. There it was. Their fire to go on. Their magic. Chara let it rush through them, glowing outwards.

As they opened their eyes, the colorless shades of grey of the capitol vanished. And once again, the world was colorful.

Chara let out a long breath that they didn't know they were holding. The first thing they saw was red. Frisk had come closer now. And there it was, that familiar glowing red soul in Frisk's chest. It shone bright against the colorless walls and floor of the room. Seeing that Chara was looking at them, Frisk waved towards the other child.

Lowering their gaze to their chest, Chara could spot a similar, heart shaped soul floating inside of their body. The child grinned. Magnificent. It seemed like they were back to their old self.

Chara caught a golden light out of the corner of their eye. The next second, they were no longer looking down but up at Frisk. The other child waved at them, several feet back. Familiar noises from only seconds ago poured in all around them, giving Chara a strange sense of deja vue.

The first fallen child smiled up at Frisk. "I guess this means you've recovered your power as well?"

The small human nodded.

Chara turned, satisfaction flowing through their body as they took in the surrounding with new eyes. The obstacles were still there, bland like before. But there were specs of color now, all around. Most were formed like the little heart shaped souls that floated in Chara's and Frisk's chest. But the child could also spot some different ones. Small deviations from what a human soul should look like. They saw a yellow soul embedded in a short boy's chest. Blue magic seemed to wisp around it, like a gentle ball of flames. The boy didn't seem to mind as he climbed up a net towards a platform high above.

He was an exception, exploring like that. Most tributes stood at one spot or another, tentatively eyeing the obstacles, unsure of what to do. Others confined themselves to watching their fellow enemies first, like Chara did. There were only one or two already confidently testing out their powers. Tributes from the career districts, no doubt. A nearby cluster of tributes stumbled back, scattering as the girl with a two on her chest began to spark near the combat station. Chara looked on in awe as orange energy emerged from her soul in a powerful array of lightning bolts. The lightning sprang out towards a dummy nearby. It was charred in seconds. The child gulped. So that was the power of a career tribute.

A new dummy popped up and the charred one vanished into the ground. Chara couldn't help to think of mad dummy back home. These ones didn't seem to feel any pain, though. And if they did, the dummies didn't show it. But maybe they just didn't have enough time. The second one was burned inside out before it could even scream. Chara shuddered. Frisk was their ultimate reset, but going down like that dummy couldn't be pretty; maybe even worse than buttercups.

Trying to distract themselves from their own imagination, Chara let their gaze drift around the training center. The underground facility must be stretching on for at least a mile to fit all of these stations. Some of the obstacle courses seemed to only exist far up by the ceiling, with no other way to reach than flying. Others stretched on down below, with all kinds of terrain mimicked by rocky surfaces and deep pools of water. The survival section was partly obscured by the fake forest. And beyond that, a field filled with targets and dummies lined the floor. There were also lots of weapons and weights. The child could spot an array of bows and even a few tridents. Next to them, all kinds of sword were displayed. And the sight next to that made Chara's eyes gleam. Oh yes. They definitely knew what they were going to be training today.

Chara turned with a wide grin towards Frisk. "I know something really cool to try out. Say, have you ever fought with a knife?"

-o-

* * *

-o-

This was supposed to be a small christmas surprise. And it still is! Just a late one, unfortunately.

Anyways, happy holidays everybody!

Enjoy the cold, rainy or hot season (depending on wherever you are) and take a minute to relax a bit from everyday stress. I'm currently doing just that by writing up a few more chapters for you lovely readers. Currently, there aren't that many in stock, but that's just cause those future chapters are a bit longer than the usual ones. So that's kind of a good thing.

Btw, if anyone happens to catch a spelling or grammar error, feel free to let me know in the comments. There's currently no beta for this story. Even though I try to proofread every chapter before posting, some mistakes tend to slip though every so often, especially when it comes to grammar.

Thank you for reading!


	13. Dummy!

Chapter 13: **Dummy!**

"Always be aware of your surroundings." Chara let the blade soar through the air in a silent, deadly swing. "You'll have to twist with the blade to build up the necessary energy, so you won't be able to always keep your eyes on the opponent. Remember their movements, their attack patterns, and try to anticipate each and every move." The child twisted their body, striking the air in a horizontal line. Words drifted from their memories to their mouth; words that had been a mantra for years.

Chara smiled at Frisk. "Knifes are usually used in short range combat. There are also throwing knifes, of course, but once you've thrown them, you'll pretty much have to do without them till the end of your fight. Using a regular knife, you'll have to be fast to hit your target." Chara turned in a fluid twist, slashing at an imaginary enemy with force. "Use your movements to enhance the strength of your attacks." The child turned towards a fresh dummy, about twice the size as them. "Focus all of your emotions, all of your animosity on your attack and then hit it." Chara let the knife come down as they tipped their body over just a bit, letting gravity do the rest. Their blade cut through in a clean slash, revealing cotton to the world. Chara grinned, turning to Frisk. "So, you think you wanna try it out?"

As it turned out, the combat station was way better equipped than anything Chara ever had in the underground. That shouldn't have been a surprise. Even though life still seemed like a huge pile of crap, a knife in hand and twirling through rows of dummies, Chara felt their worries melt away. This was fun; actual fun that the child hadn't experienced for what felt like a very long time.

They moved forward, aiming at the right leg of a dummy. Their power had never been special. Chara hadn't expected it to be. But seeing their adoptive brother hold a flame of magic in his hand for the first time, grinning at them expectantly, Chara had known that they would never be as strong as him. And it was ok. It truly was. Azzie could do amazing things with his magic. It was so colorful and vibrant. And the underground had brought color to Chara's life too. Color that they didn't know was missing until then. Asriel had always been the stronger one.

The child ducked low, slicing open the dummy's leg with a controlled swing. But Azzie shouldn't need to be strong. It shouldn't matter. Yet, in this world, it did.

Chara ran on, falling into their training and dancing from one form to another. The child had seen what humans had to do to survive on the surface. To be strong meant to be cruel for the sake of your own survival. And the child could never wish that fate onto their brother.

A new dummy popped up behind them. Gradually stretching their arm as they turned, Chara observed the light as it reflected off their blade before the weapon buried itself in its new enemy. So Chara had to be stronger than their brother. How else were they supposed to shield him from the cruelty of humanity? At the very least they had to try. Mom and dad never liked weapons. Monsters relied on magic and even then, it was rarely used in combat. But then another human fell down. They were the second one to ever enter the underground. And though their recovery from the fall took far longer than Chara's, they stayed patient.

The child tugged at the hilt of their knife, bracing for the moment it would slide out of the dummy. Chara took a step back as it came free in a sharp motion. Although having another human show up was curious, the most interesting thing was what they brought. As mom and dad considered it a toy, their parents never confiscated the plastic knife. Chara suspected that they would have, if they had ever noticed whenever the injured child snuck out at night. Even wrapped in bandages, the second human waited for hours at a time for the Dreemurr couple to fall asleep. Then they would take their toy and retreat to the garden.

Chara went on, caught in the familiarity of their movements. Enemies flashed by and their muscles worked in harmony. It felt good to strike something else than air for once; have their enemies take on a solid form. Back then, Chara had watched the other human stab at the air for countless nights. The first fallen child always tried to be in bed again before the second human noticed. Though each and every night, Chara would sneak out after the older human again. They had felt so sneaky, so clever back then. After some time, it almost felt like a game. During one such night, Chara leaned against an old pillar again, sticking their head tentatively out from behind it to see the show of precision and power in front of them. Even though the ruins had still been lively back then, no monster came out to those parts that late at night.

The child still remembered how they had grinned as the patient one struck the air with a wide swing. They had never seen someone fight like that. It was so precise, so effective. The patient one seemed to pause a bit, red bow bouncing in the light of a nearby torch. "By now you should know the basic movements." A pair of cyan eyes found red ones. "But observing is different than acting. Why don't you give it a try?"

Of course, Chara wasn't happy about being discovered. But their disappointment was short lived as they got to swing the toy knife for the first time. Their movements were sloppy at first, but gradually they improved. And for the first time in their life, Chara felt the tiniest bit of power.

Over time, the two of them didn't need to hide their training anymore. The patient one named it a game and mom and dad were just happy that Chara had made another friend other than Asriel. Chara had been truly happy. They should have known better.

The child sprang forward in the here and now, ripping their blade through a world of cotton. After all, the other child had not only been a teacher. They had also been a human.

Chara plunged their knife into another dummy. They had liked them.

Their blade was forcefully ripped out. They had trusted them.

And yet the patient one had only brought suffering. Humans always did that.

Countless monsters fell that summer as the capitol refused to trade any food. And it was all that one human's fault.

Chara's knuckles whitened as their grip on the knife tightened. How foolish they were, thinking good of a human like that.

Their knife struck forward, tearing away cotton. Chara chuckled. What a dummy they had been.

The first fallen child raised their eyes to the wooly mayhem they had caused. Never again. They would never make that same mistake again.

Some tributes had stopped to stare in their direction. Looking the observers steady in the eyes, Chara took a step back from their dummy, raised their knife and smiled.

-o-

* * *

-o-

Happy new year and sorry for the wait!

Life has decided to switch to hard mode again, so updating has kind of taken a step back for the time being. Don't worry, there are still some chapters in stock. As such, there shouldn't be any major delays, but delays nonetheless. I apologize for any forgotten updates that may occure due to that in the future.

On a different note, a big thank you to our second reviewer of 'May the strongest rise above'! Any and all comments always make my day. As to why there isn't much going on around the fav, follow and review sections: My best guess, due to the traffic stats, is that this story simply isn't that easy to find. There's a fairly stable number of reappearing readers (hi there!) and a lot of the people stumbling over this story seem to stick around. It's just that searching in the crossover section of these two fandoms probably isn't that popular. Which is why I'm even happier whenever someone decides to leave a comment or decides to give this story a read~


	14. Unnecessary tension

Chapter 14: **Unnecessary tension **

"People seem to like the combat section." Chara's observation was nearly drowned out by a scream from a tribute who chugged an empty crossbow at a dummy in frustration.

Frisk just hummed in agreement.

"I mean, it makes sense in the long run." The arena would definitely favor those who could defend themselves in the first few seconds; Chara had no doubt about it. "Still, don't you think it looks kind of…" Pathetic, stupid, weak, all of those described the scene in front of them. Another tribute tried to conjure his power by vigorously screaming out words. Nothing happened. "…sad." It was not that Chara felt unhappy about their fellow tribute's lack of experience. Quite the opposite. It was a nice change of pace to for once be one of the most experienced magic users in the room. Yet, observing the impressive diorama of frustration, confusion and excitement from the edge of the training area, the child couldn't help to think back to their own first experience with magic.

Their eyes had been wide, tentatively observing Toriel's paws gliding over the burned flesh around Chara's neck as green fire sprouted from them. They had jerked back into their chair at first, but Toriel had just smiled that calming smile of hers, fangs poking out from the edges of her snout. "Do not worry, my child. Everything will be alright. You'll be feeling well in no time." The fire, as vicious as it had looked, was gentle and soothing, curling around their wounds like a warm embrace. Chara had never felt that much love just through a touch. It stunned them into stillness.

Asriel had always been good at picking up other's emotions. So it came as no surprise when he smiled at Chara after dinner, as the latter tentatively observed Toriel snuffing out the stove's fire with a gentle flick of her paw. "Mom's magic is awesome, isn't it?"

The human child had given a soft nod, stealing a glance at the beaming, small monster besides them. Asriel had smiled shyly. "You know, I've never met any human before, but mom's been teaching me how to do really cool stuff with my magic. So if you want to learn, I'm sure she'll be able to show you how to do it too." The goat boy's eyes had brightened as an idea came to his mind. "Oh, last week, we've done some really awesome magic, not reading books and stuff like that. Look, I can do this now!" The small monster had stretched out his paws, fluffy face contorting in concentration.

Chara had shuffled in their chair awkwardly, as nothing happened after a few seconds. But suddenly, there it was. A small spout of fire, barely above the size of a candle's flame, sprung to life in the hands of the monster child. Chara had sprung back in surprise. Their chair was nearly knocked over and a tiny hand found comfort in clawing at the dinner table besides them.

Asgore chuckled softly form the other side of the table, an empty plate in hand. "Now now, son. Do not overdo it. I am afraid that our little human friend here is not quite used to monster magic."

Asriel startled at that, looking up from his focused frown to find the slightly panicked but curious eyes of the human in front of them. "O-oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." The small flame vanished from his hands as his concentration vanished.

Chara stared for a moment at the space where the fire had been. Then, their small voice broke the tense silence. "How did you do that?"

Asriel's face turned into a radiant beam again, diving enthusiastically into a long, not so scientifically accurate speech about magic and all of the cool things you could do with it.

Chara was rudely awakened from the memory as a high-pitched scream echoed through the hall, followed by a muffled thud as a body collided with a cushioned surface. Apparently, one of the male tributes had tested whether he could fly or not. From a very high obstacle. And he could not. A trainer was quick to help the guy untangle himself from the cushioned area below. He looked a bit drowsy, but unharmed. Too bad.

"Don't get me wrong," Chara murmured towards Frisk, "my first few tries weren't graceful either. But at least there were only mom and Azzie to watch." Another tribute at the top of the obstacle seemed surprisingly tempted to try the flying part as well, shuffling around while anxiously glancing at the space below.

From their sitting point, the high up obstacles were easy to observe, with long ladders and nets meant for climbing reaching up towards some parts of the rafters. The survival section was fairly scarce of any tributes, as most were too eager to explore the potential magic abilities that their bodies were now allowed to use. The only problem with magic was that it was mostly instinctual. So finding ones magical abilities was like searching for a needle in a haystack, without knowing what the needle looked like or if it was even there.

"It took me forever to find out how to use my magic. Mom was a great teacher, but training with Azzie can be pretty frustrating." Chara smiled softly at the memory. Asriel had always been a natural when it comes to magic. The child looked towards the ceiling wistfully. He'd become a great king one day.

Their gaze fell onto Frisk. The other child had their knees pulled up towards their chest, arms lazily slung around them. They were both worn out by their first few hours of practice.

"Did mom ever get to teach you magic?" Chara asked, as the thought suddenly occurred. It was usually one of the first lessons mom included for her surrogate children. But Frisk hadn't really been around that long before their name was drawn and this whole nightmare started. Come to think of it, they'd probably set a record there.

Frisk shook their head, but shrugged. "She did not get to it. But I don't mind. I don't think it would have worked with me anyways. Not with my kind of power."

Chara mulled over that a bit, nodding. "Probably not."

They watched on a bit longer as some tributes struggled to connect with their powers. Others confidently swung their weapons at dummies or trainers. A few just sat at the side, observing or talking. Chara's muscles gave off a dull ache and their stomach growled in a low rumble.

"The cafeteria seems open" Frisk commented.

Chara glanced over towards the large arch that connected the training area to the dining hall. The tantalizing smell of freshly cooked food wafted out of it. "It seems so."

"I'm hungry."

Chara's belly growled in agreement. "Me too."

Yet, something was holding them back. Where the training area was wide and spacious, the dining hall seemed to sport benches and tables that were long and close to each other; at least from what Chara could tell from afar. In the wide space outside, it was easy to avoid the other tributes mingling about. In there was a different story.

"We should probably go eat something." Frisk commented, neutral as ever. "Before it fills up too much."

Chara hummed in agreement. That seemed reasonable. But their limbs felt like lead. Frisk wore a determined frown though. Chara huffed. Why was this so hard for them? A small tinge of fear fluttered in their chest as they gazed at the arch, but a flare of magic squashed it. Their eyes flashed a vivid red. This was ridiculous. They would not be defeated by their own cowardice.

Before their brain had enough time to panic, Chara stretched out an arm to stabilize themselves and stand up. They gifted Frisk an annoyed glance. "So what are you waiting for?" Their limbs trembled in preparation. "Let's go grab some food."

"I don't think I'm good at fighting with a knife." Frisk confessed a few minutes later over a plate of goopy, mashed potatoes.

Chara shuffled around their food a bit, before shoving a fork of it into their mouth. There had also been some deceptively tasty looking spaghetti, but the child wasn't going to touch that. "No kidding, I stabbed myself in the leg because of you."

Frisk shuffled a bit in their seat. "I wanted to throw a knife at the dummy. It missed. I wanted to correct my aim, but the knife was hard to get. So I reset."

"And I was just about to stab a dummy." Chara grumbled. "Right before you rewound to a moment were my knife still faced down."

The quiet child frowned. "I reset after that too. Do you still have the wound?"

Chara rubbed the upper part of their leg. "No." But the child's mind still burned with the vivid memory of a searing pain. "Just don't reset when I'm in the middle of training. It's annoying."

Chara took a moment to chew, before swallowing and shrugging. "Maybe you just need some practice. It took me forever back in the Underground to get the forms to even remotely fit together."

Frisk shook their head, curly hair bobbing a bit with the movement. "I don't see the target. When I react it's too late."

Chara twirled their fork thoughtfully. "You can always go back and try again." But Frisk made a face at that. Chara couldn't blame them. Failing at close range meant getting stabbed or punched or worse. It wasn't really the kind of thing that you wanted to do in a trial and error cycle. Chara shrugged. "Fair enough. Maybe try something else then. But it's your loss. Knifes are the best."

Frisk opened their mouth to retort, head swaying to the side a little. "I-"

"Hi there! You're the ones from 12, right?"

Chara jumped a bit in their seat at the far too close voice next to their ear. Standing next to them, a wall of golden hair framed a bright, round face that seemed to be only a few years older than Chara's and Frisk's. Chara felt a vague sense of familiarity nib at the edge of their thoughts.

The first fallen child from 12 moved back a bit on the metal bench they were sitting on, rubbing their ear in irritation. "Yes, we are. And you are?"

The girl with the golden hair seemed to see that as an invitation and plopped down besides Chara, much to their dismay. "I'm Star. From district 1. We met yesterday in the elevator, remember?"

Chara ground their teeth. Oh, yeah. That was where they had seen each other before. Great. "I do recall" the child answered in the politest voice they could manage. Sans' face floated through their mind. Play nice. Their survival depended on it. Still, this was far from easy. So they tried to channel their inner Toriel, all nice and polite even towards the ones she disliked.

Thankfully, the other child seemed to remain oblivious to Chara's dislike as she babbled on. "Great, so I saw you earlier and that dance-y thing you did with the knife just looked really awesome. Your district has monsters, right? Does everyone learn to fight like that there? Is it like a monster thing?"

Chara picked at their food, more than a bit freaked out by the other child's rambling. Was this a strategy to confuse them? To intimidate them? If so, it worked. "A human taught me. And no, there aren't many that fight with knifes." The girl had clearly not been looking when Frisk got pummeled by an inanimate dummy about an hour ago. No one would ask that question after seeing that poor attempt at an offense.

A few seconds ticked by as Chara gave their food as much attention as they could muster. The clacking of cutlery colliding with plates filled the dining hall. A soft smell of cooked vegetables and meat wafted by in a strange mix that made Chara's already full belly ache. Maybe, if they ignored the other tribute long enough, she would just get bored and leave them be.

Alas, that was not the case. The girl who had introduced herself as Star leaned a bit forward on the bench, towards the two children sitting in silence. "Sooo, I've been kinda curious, you know? District 1 is really awesome and all but there aren't really many interesting abilities around. And no monsters. They just tell you those stories in history class about how monsters hide under beds and do all kinds of preeetty messed up things." Star raised a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear that flopped back into her face right afterwards. "But then I got to watch those old videos from the last few hunger games, 'cause my mentor said we totally should, and the monsters there seemed pretty ok to me. So what are they like in real life? Do monsters really steal human children?"

Chara choked on their food a bit, letting the tiniest glare break through their mask. "What? No, of course they don't!"

"Oh, so how did you two end up in the underground?"

"We fell."

"You just fell into a monster society? By accident?"

"Yes."

"So it is possible to get through that barrier, isn't it? For us humans, I mean? Or, well, non-monsters. Technically, I'm mewman, you know. My family kind of came from another dimension but Britannia pretty much destroyed our dimensional scissors that we used to get here. And every other tool for interdimensional travel around Panem, pretty much. So we're kind of stranded here with some of our people. It's such a crazy story. Anyways, is that barrier a one way thing or does it work like a net, only for monsters-"

Chara slammed down their cutlery, finally fed up with the girl's rambling. The sharp sound seemed to do the trick as the older girl blinked, stopping mid-sentence to look at Chara's stony face. The child from 12 firmly clasped their table's edge, knuckles turning white. "Thank you for your interest, but let's quit the games. What is it you really want to know?"

The girl from district 1 let out an unsure laughter. "What do you mean? I just told you."

It was one thing lying to Chara. They could tolerate that, appreciate a good lie even. But trying the same cheap trick twice? Chara's fingers curled up against the cold metal. That was another thing.

The small child smiled sweetly. "No, you just told me that you were interested in monsters. You, a career from district 1. That strikes me as a bit odd, don't you think so too?"

Star frowned. "I'm not a career. I'm supposes to be a princess so I train-"

Chara's smile grew a fraction. "That's not. The. Point."

Star let out a frustrated growl. "What's up with you? I was just trying to be nice."

The child from 12 sent her a glare. "Then how about being honest next time? We're not here to play games."

"We kind of are," Frisk injected, but Chara pointedly ignored them.

"We're here to fight for our districts. So either name your query, career, or leave us alone."

Star made an unhappy face, but stood up, to Chara's satisfaction. "Fine. Whatever, be like that." She awkwardly lifted her legs over the bench. "I just wanted to know more about monsters. You know, my mom always told me those horrible stories about how cruel monsters were before Britannia took over. Stories about eating babies and scaring little children." She squared her shoulders, golden hair falling in a long curtain behind her. "Maybe she was right. Maybe you're just like them." And with that she strode off, flopping down next to a few other tributes at another table.

Chara glared at her back, as they stomped the small twinge of guilt in their mind.

"You could have been nicer," Frisk commented from across the table.

Chara turned around to face them. "She was just playing games to get whatever she wanted. It's best to let her get as little information as possible. Our lives will depend on it in a few days." It was a bitter truth.

"But now she thinks all monsters are bad."

Chara pressed their lips together at the new flare of guilt. "So what? We'll win the hunger games for our district, remember? So she won't even live that long. It doesn't matter if she thinks monsters are good or bad."

Frisk didn't answer that. They only continued to slowly shovel food into their mouth. Chara did the same, all the while trying to forget about the encounter. It didn't matter. One girl's opinion didn't matter. Even though it was wrong. An image of Asriel, mom and dad flashed before Chara's mind's eye. Humans tended to get it all wrong. Monsters weren't bad, far from it. Monsters didn't fight wars among themselves. Monsters didn't trap other beings inside of magical barriers. Monsters weren't the ones to invent the hunger games. All of those were humans. Always humans. If anyone was truly bad, it was humanity. And Chara would never forgive them for what they did. For what they were capable of. For what Chara was capable of. No, monsters weren't bad. And it didn't matter that the world thought so. It didn't.

"We are very disappointed in you." Chara looked at their escort indignantly, before turning to Sans.

The skeleton shrugged from his point on the couch. "she's kinda got a point, you know? no need to antagonize your antagonists just yet."

Chara couldn't believe this. "You're not my parents! I don't care if you're disappointed." Though, they shrunk back a bit in their chair as Linda loomed over them. "Besides, I'm going to fight against that girl in a few days anyways. Why should I be nice?"

Their escort pinched the bridge of her nose. "Because it is common curtesy."

"precisely 'cause you fight those tributes in a few days, buddy. if you go skull to skull with kids far above your power level, you'll want to have allies."

Chara was swiftly regretting telling their mentor and escort about their lunch encounter. The bright lights overhead illuminated their big apartment. With the sun already down, the glass wall reflected the light like a mirror. Linda had been the first one to fawn over them as they came in. Sans seemed to prefer the comfort of the couch, which did not stop him from commenting on the situation.

The first fallen child moved over to the dinner table, where Frisk had already claimed a chair. "Frisk and I will be fighting together." It wasn't an argument Chara liked to bring up, but these were desperate times. "We know each other's power and abilities. We'll be fine on our own."

Sans shook his head, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "kid, trust me when i say that even the most powerful ability will not help against a good strategy. tori would fry me if she knew i was telling you this, but eh, you're old enough to hear it. there's far worse fates than death, so don't be a lazybone about it. be smart. get people to not attack you at first sight. that's all you need to do."

Their escort nodded enthusiastically. "That's right. People like fight scenes, but drama is way more entertaining. You'll get more sponsors that way." She smiled happily. "And more sponsors mean better chances."

Chara sneered but held back a retort. More like more screen time and money for that old witch of an escort. But arguing now wasn't worth the effort.

Sans winked at them. "so, watcha say about putting some backbone into making pals tomorrow?"

The angry child huffed, looking from their mentor to their escort and to their fellow tribute. Frisk just gave a small shrug. Chara led out a heated breath of air. "Fine. Whatever. I'll try making some friends tomorrow." How hard could it be?

-o-

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-o-

I'm not dead, wohoo! After the last few weeks, that feels like a far too great accomplishment. The effort was worth it, though I didn't end up accomplishing everything that I set out to. But settling for plan B is still great. That's why emergency plans exist.

With my real life hopefully becoming a bit calmer again, things should return to normal now. That means the usual rough schedul of an update every two weeks.

Thank you to everyone who's sticking around and welcome to anyone who's new to the story! As always, reviews bring a smile to my face so don't shy away from leaving a few words down below~


	15. Dating Start!

Hi there!

How's it going? I'm alive and back after what surely were only two weeks and not an over a month long surprise hiatus... Aaaanyways, I hope you are all well during these annoying times. Tl;dr on the topic of the hiatus: The pandemic that shall not be named is currently messing with my life a lot, so updates may be kinda all over the place in the next few weeks. As a little goodie for the wait, I present to you the longest chapter so far! It just did not want to be split, no matter how hard I tried. Enjoy!

-o-

* * *

-o-

Chapter 15: **Dating Start! **

On the second day of training, it was easier to get out of bed than before. Chara wouldn't really describe the feeling next to the gaping hole in their soul as hope, but something like that. It was a purpose, the vague idea of a plan.

They put on their grey pants and shirt in a room far too big for one person. Making friends, that was their plan for now. Chara's hand moved towards their bedside table, gently cradling their locket as it gleamed softly in the morning light. It would have to stay here for now.

No, to be honest, they weren't here for friends. They were here for allies. The cold metal of their jewelry was a steady reminder of that; of the existence of their home. All of this, the apartment tower, this room and the humans outside, they were just a nightmare that would pass. Azzie would wait for them back home. And whenever they were holding their locket, there was a small hope that Asriel would hold his one too, no matter where Chara were. The child liked to believe so anyways. Chara sighed, leaving their locket as they walked outside, ready to face another day of hell.

Breakfast went by in a muddled haze of sounds and tastes. Chara was too lost in thoughts to care. All too soon, they were stepping into the familiar elevator together with a sleepy looking Frisk.

Making allies, that was all they had to do. It couldn't be that hard. It was not like making friends. Making friends was the worst, even when your brother was the royal prince of monsters and a beloved pushover. It was even hard to achieve when mom baked you a pie to share at school with the other children. They'd just run away like scared mice, even though Chara put on their sweetest smile. It wasn't the kind of smile they wanted, Chara knew that. But monsters were kind and pure. Like delicate flowers. How was a human supposed to live up to that?

The elevator doors closed with a ding, Linda waving a bright goodbye as the last bit of room vanished from view. Sans didn't even bother to move up from the couch.

But they weren't looking to get close to monsters. They were trying to form a tactical agreement with the enemy. At least that was what Asgore had called it whenever he tried to teach Asriel and Chara battle strategies. Mom wouldn't have liked it, but the children swore to never tell her. After all, who needed mom's biology lessons when there was a game of life and death happening every year. Besides, Chara actually enjoyed dad's lessons.

A soft hum filled the air. The child's stomach dropped a bit as they moved downwards. The soft texture of their training clothing felt cold on their skin. They barely managed to suppress their shiver.

"What should we do first today?" Frisk's voice was soft yet too loud in the small space around them. Cold, glossy walls passively reflected any sound, successfully minimizing any noise from outside.

Chara shrugged. "Find allies, I guess. Like Sans said. Maybe find that bubbly girl from yesterday."

Frisk gave a small nod as the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open and they stepped outside.

Chara took a deep breath, trying to calm themselves. Honestly, they had no idea how to do this. Usually, Azzie would be the one to smooth things over. The human child had never really seen a use in any of that. They had their brother and their parents. There was no need for any other people to like them. It was not like their life depended on it. But now it did.

Chara scanned the room carefully. The two of them seemed to be early, as only about a dozen tributes were in sight. That girl with the lightning was there again. From outside the training area the bolds that sprung from her form looked oddly normal, flashing brightly as they buried themselves in the nearest target. They reminded Chara of a faint memory of a thunder storm. Or maybe it was just their imagination playing around with the images of weather that Toriel had shown them whenever Asriel would ask about the sky.

Either way, Chara was starkly aware of the collar around their neck. So, without further ado, the child strode over to the thick line separating the training area and stepped over it. A small sigh of relief escaped them as Chara dared to reach for their power. And suddenly the world was crisp again.

Frisk came to a stop besides them, craning their neck high to look at a guy that jumped from one obstacle to another up ahead.

Chara frowned. Had that weirdo seriously pulled on a cat costume over his training clothes?

They shook their head, trying to concentrate on the scene before them. All in all, it was pretty much the same picture as yesterday. A few tributes like the cat guy and the lightning lady seemed to have already figured out their powers. So they were probably careers or just stupidly talented. Either way, it was bad news. Others, however, still were busy enthusiastically failing at a multitude of obstacles and combat training units. Ok, maybe they were just the slightest bit less enthusiastic than yesterday. Or maybe it was just because it was 8 in the morning.

Chara wearily leaned against one of the fake trees nearby. They couldn't deny that the early hour was getting to them too. The child stifled a yawn that threatened to rise up from their chest. Between strategizing for the coming days and the ever present anxiety, sleep wasn't really something Chara was successful at lately.

"Tell me if you spot the career girl from yesterday." Chara leaned a bit towards Frisk. The other child had chosen to take a seat beneath the fake branches, head cocked slightly to the side. "It's probably best to get that out of the way first." Rip the band aid off. Chara had no idea how to get the other tribute to not hate them again, but the longer they waited, the more their determination would fade.

"I don't hear her yet" was Frisks only acknowledgement.

Chara waved their hand dismissively. "Don't worry. She's loud enough to be spotted from a mile away. We'll find her eventually."

And true to that statement, a squeal rang through the hall. The elevator doors hadn't even closed yet and the girl was already running over the line, right towards the combat area.

Chara blinked at the scene for a moment, watching as the girl rushed forward, hair billowing wildly behind her. It took a moment for the child to move from surprise to a mild panic that churned in their stomach. Not waiting for Frisk to get up, they ran after the girl, quickly feeling like their opportunity was slipping away.

By the time the child from district 12 had caught up, the other tribute had already reached the nearest combat station. A trainer stood wearily next to her as the girl fawned over an assortment of morning stars with wild eyes.

Chara slowed down their run to stop in front of them, panting a bit. Both trainer and tribute looked at them in mild surprise and expectation. Crap, crap, crap, crap. What were they going to say? They had no plan, no preparation, nothing. All of the scenarios their mind had gone through last night had ended in disaster.

The child straightened their back, hoping to make themselves look bigger. Regal, like mom and dad, and not like the small child they felt like. Looking up at the towering figures in front of them, Chara gave a small nod. "Morning. I am deeply sorry for the intrusion, but may I have a minute of your time?"

The career cocked her head, gaze flickering to the trainer next to her. At last, she let out a small huff. "Fine. What is it you want?"

Next to them Frisk had finally caught up, passively keeping their distance to give Chara space. The trainer, as well, seemed to have developed a sudden, intense interest in the weapons rack. District 12's first fallen child had never seen anyone less talented at disguising their interest and side glances.

Chara steeled themselves, the thought alone of what they were about to say flowing like hard, unwilling wax. "I…" Their voice faltered as the child tried to say the things that their heart did not mean. "I'm…" Again, there was nothing. The girl in front of them seemed to lose her patience by the second.

The child from 12 ground their teeth as Frisk's words from yesterday came back to them. After Chara's reaction the day before the career probably thought of monsters in the same cruel light as the Britannians. And that wasn't fair. Not for Asriel, not for mom and dad and definitely not even for the most annoying monster. Even if it was just a single mind that Chara could change and even if it was only short lived, it was the only thing that they could put behind their words that wouldn't sound like a lie. Gosh, Chara was truly bad at acting like that to an enemy. But they had to try.

"I'm sorry." The career's face changed to one of mild surprise as Chara's words hit her, but the child didn't stop, for if they stopped they wouldn't be able to get the rest out. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you yesterday. And I'm sorry for making you think monsters were bad. They're not." The child balled their fists. "They're kind and nice and they don't deserve those awful stories." Chara looked up with steady eyes, a hint of red flashing inside of them as they met sky blue ones. "So I hope that you can forgive me for what I've said." The smaller child flashed the girl a smile. "I hope we can be friends."

They waited with bated breath. The last part was risky, a blatant lie. Chara wouldn't cry a tear if the girl in front of them dropped dead, much less did they desire to form a friendship. But maybe the rest would cover up for it. And maybe it was just the right amount of cheesy to do the trick.

Frisk swayed a bit next to them but otherwise made no sound. In the back of their mind, Chara registered the training area becoming more crowded as other tributes poured in.

The career girl stared down at them for a moment longer, lips in a thin line. Then her features broke into a beaming smile, first the eyes and then the mouth. "That's ok. I forgive you." She chuckled, absentmindedly blowing a lock of hair out of her sight. "I guess we're all a bit on edge right now."

Chara nodded awkwardly. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

A surprised scream rang through the hall as a tribute with pigtails nearly managed to set herself on fire. Maybe Chara had been too harsh in their judgement of the survival section. Despite its lack of combat, it still seemed quite deadly.

The career across from them shifted from one foot to another. "Soooo, I probably should get back to training."

Chara cleared their throat. "Yes, I should get going too."

The girl from district 1 nodded brightly, eyes flashing excitedly. "But I'll see you around." Her eyes suddenly widened a bit. "Oh, and maybe we could sit together at lunch today! I've already met some really great people here, we could all eat together and you could tell us all about monsters and that barrier."

Chara's mouth crumbled into a thin smile. "Of course. That's a great idea." And maybe one of the obstacles would topple over and hit them before then. That way, Chara at least wouldn't need to speak another friendly word with the girl in front of them. But they were never that lucky.

"Bye!" The career waved as Chara turned and walked away. The smaller child tried to smile just as happily and returned her waving. Frisk gave a timid nod as a goodbye.

Chara ground their teeth as they were out of the career's sight. That went well, surprisingly so. But even then the small child would have preferred to just spend their time without this entire exhausting friendship charade.

Frisk strode on besides them, deviating to turn towards one of the obstacle courses. Chara went on as Frisk strode towards a tall ladder to climb towards one of the platforms. The first fallen child kind of understood Frisk's reasons for not wanting to go into combat further. Even so, it was still hard to grasp how anyone didn't want to feel the power of a blade soaring through the air. Chara purposefully made their way towards the knife section of the combat area.

They could have just ignored Sans' and Linda's advice and went through training without allies. But Chara had to agree that there was a tactical advantage in having the bubbly girl on their side. Besides, it would make life in the arena so much easier. Let the girl handle all of the big fish without hitting the children from 12 in the process. After all, the career girl's soul shone the bright green of someone who was used to expressing magic. She'd be a valuable ally.

Chara picked up one of the knives from the rack, a light one with a beautiful, shining blade. A trainer rambled on next to them about the different advantages of varying knives. The child listened to him with only one ear as their gaze landed on the reflection of their shining red eyes on the blade's metal surface.

They had a human with a green soul in the underground too; sweet and trusting, so very, very trusting. Oh, it would be so easy to end that career's life once the time came. Chara took a measured test swing. What a wonderful, useful ally they had just made.

* * *

Around noon, Chara finally decided to take a break. Their sweat soaked shirt was glued to their body and their lung heaved in exhaustion. Still, it was a good exercise. One that Chara actually enjoyed. And their trainer was actually not that bad. He liked knifes and knew a lot about them. The child could respect that.

"Maybe you should take a break" the trainer advised. "Too much training could lead to a strain and there's no complete recovery from that before the arena. There's water over there."

Chara nodded, their mood instantly souring at the mentioning of the arena. Throwing a last, longing glance at the holographic dummies behind them, the child turned to move out of the combat section they occupied. "Thank you, Britannian."

The trainer's face twitched a tiny bit in annoyance. "It's Hei, actually-" but Chara was already too far away to hear or care.

The child made their way past the lightning girl, who flicked a quarter that crackled with energy before soaring towards a dummy and ripping a straight hole through its chest. Still terrifying. Another tribute seemed to have summoned an energy blaster from apparently nothing and was readily shooting one target after another. That was worrying. There were no guns given to tributes during the games for a reason. But if it was crafted from stuff that was allowed, it probably didn't count. Chara didn't notice that they had slowed in their stride to stare until the girl turned her head in a flying mess of dark locks. Her vengeful gaze was enough motivation for the child to go on with an even quicker pace this time.

They let out a small sight as they reached a drinking fountain by the border of the obstacle area. The moment the water reached Chara's lips, they realized just how dry their throat was. After a few, eager gulps, they took the time to look up. The volume had considerably dimmed as more and more tributes migrated towards the dining hall. Chara thought about it too, for a moment, but decided that the risk of meeting their peppy ally was too great a cost. They weren't ready to face that torment again yet.

The child wiped off a few droplets of water still stuck to their face as a better alternative climbed up from the padded floor beneath one of the obstacle courses. Chara grinned. "Frisk!"

The other child looked up in mild surprise, before clumsily stepping off the cushioned section. "Chara."

The first fallen child strode over with joyful steps, despite their sore muscles' arching. "Hey there, partner. How's the obstacle course?"

Frisk shrugged, turning their head slightly towards the vertical net leading to the beginning of their latest course. "It's fine. I've got difficulties guessing gaps though."

Chara nodded, barely registering the others words. "That's tough. Mind if I join you?"

The other child, however, gestured towards the large gates of the dining hall. "Can we do that after eating? I'm hungry."

But Chara just waved a hand in the air. "It can wait for a few minutes, can't it? Besides, it's so crammed right now. Let's go when the rush calms down a bit." Actually, the child thought they saw a curtain of hair and a pair of twinkling eyes by the entrance. Even more motivated now, Chara shoved the other child from their district towards the obstacle.

"We're only 24 tributes" Frisk pointed out, but it fell on deaf ears.

"So how do you do this now?" Chara asked, trying to fairly obviously flee the scene.

Their partner in crime pointed towards the net. "You climb up there. You cross the platforms without falling."

Chara kept their hand firmly on Frisk's back, shoving the two of them towards the beginning of the course. "Great. Let's try it. Agility will be great in the arena. And we can train it here. Up there, away from anyone else."

If Frisk picked up on their skittish antics, they didn't mention it. Chara send them a too big to be real grin. "Race ya to the top."

And they were off. Chara took the clear lead as they started to climb before even ending the sentence. Their body ached as their fingers and feet found a hold on the net of rough, woven ropes. It was like climbing trees with Azzie. Arms and feet moved in practiced motion, fingers clamping, releasing, searching, grabbing. On and on it went again. The net was high and air heaved in and out of Chara's burning lungs. Overhead, between steel beams, the top of the net connected with a platform. Just a bit more.

Chara threw a glance over their shoulder towards the ground, trying to guess their distance to Frisk. They slowed down a bit in confusion as their eyes failed to find them. The net wiggled weirdly as it bent sideways. Chara's head turned upwards just in time to catch the other tribute calmly but firmly surpassing them, not missing a beat. For a moment, the first fallen child just hung there, face slack in mild surprise. Automatically, their hand reached up for the next part of rope and missed. Chara suppressed a small gasp as they nearly lost their grip altogether, managing to save themselves from falling. It was enough to wake them from their surprise, though. Cursing a bit under their breath, Chara proceeded to climb upwards with renewed vigor. But even so, Frisk was already too far gone for the other child to have any chance.

Chara grabbed the edge of the platform gasping for air. On top of it stood Frisk, breathing just a bit more rapidly than usual. Chara clenched their jaw as they pulled themselves up the rest of the way. They ignored the hand offered by a trainer standing by the side and the sting that gesture caused their already damaged pride.

"I win" Frisk stated simply.

Chara grumbled as they struggled to catch their breath. Up here, the view was astonishing as the high ground gave a perfect overview of the whole training center. Steel beams crossed left and right, with some of them close to the ceiling that still rested a couple yards above them. Some of the beams descended to hold platforms upwards high above the ground further away. Between those platforms and some ropes, nets and plates dangling freely from the ceiling, Chara could more or less recognize an alignment that formed a path. It was impressive. But the child couldn't care less for it at the moment.

"It's not fair." Chara complained after they had sucked in a few swaths of air. "I'm already tired from training all morning!"

Frisk shrugged, their face staying in stoical neutrality. "I still win."

Chara straightened, letting out an annoyed huff of air. Pfft, they were just tired. That's why Frisk won.

Peering across the edge of the platform, the child cautiously checked for the career that had so hauntingly threatened them with lunch this morning. They calmed a bit as they didn't find her anywhere around the obstacle.

Moving some loose locks of hair behind their ear, Chara turned towards Frisk with a cocky smile. "Climbing up a net means nothing. That's easy." They motioned towards the floating parkour in front of them, only remembering after a bit that the gesture was useless on Frisk. "Beating those obstacles, that requires skill. Whoever comes farther wins."

Frisk frowned a bit at that. "You'll win then. I can't guess the distances right."

Chara observed the other tribute suspiciously, thinking back to the challenge they just lost. "But you just beat me at climbing that net. You didn't have trouble there." The child swore to the delta rune, if Frisk was trying to trick them to gain an advantage, they'd be furious. And impressed, if Chara was being honest.

Frisk bit their lip. "But the net has always the same measurements. Each square of rope is the same length and height. Even when it moves those measurements are still true. Every time I stand on this platform, I'm just a bit farther away or closer towards the gap. That always changes. I can't find the right place to land like that."

Chara thought about that for a bit. That actually was kind of a problem. If Frisk couldn't navigate around the arena, they'd never even survive the first few minutes. And then their chance at feeding the Underground would be over.

The child blinked. Wait. But it wouldn't be over. This was Frisk in front of them. That child had not only brought Chara back to life, but themselves as well. And each and every time the two of them had ended in the same goddamn judgement hall at exactly the same place no matter how much time had passed.

Chara leveled a flat gaze at the other child as realization hit them. "Your power, how does it work?"

Frisk cocked their head a bit in surprise. "What do you mean?"

The first fallen child sighed impatiently. "Your power, turning back time, resetting, whatever. How does it work? Can you save a moment in time anywhere, anytime?"

The last fallen child shrugged. "I don't know. It always worked so far when the repressor was off."

"So, you could safe this moment here, right now?"

"I guess."

"And you could always go back to it? However many times you want to?"

"Probably."

"And" Chara added "you could save like that right before you jump, isn't that right?"

"Yes."

Chara let out an annoyed breath of air, pinching the bridge of their nose. They couldn't believe this. "Then why don't you just save and try that jump again and again? At one point you'll get the distance right and just move on to the next jump or obstacle or whatever."

For a moment, Frisk just stood there, seemingly thinking about it. Meanwhile, Chara contemplated the intelligence or lack thereof of their ally. Would they really have to spell out every little detail for them?

"Well, you said it bothered you when we were practicing with the knifes yesterday." Frisk's small voice rung over the platform.

That was kind of true. No one else seemed to notice when time was thrown back to a point in the past, but Chara did. And it was incredibly annoying. Especially when one was fighting with a knife. One moment, they were stabbing an enemy and the next Chara would be back in a run, weapon facing down. It was disorienting, to say the least. But it would be even more annoying if Frisk just randomly ran towards danger.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Chara argued, crossing their arms defensively. You can use your reset if you want. Just not when I'm practicing with a knife." The child grid their teeth. "I can use a wood knife for the next few days for a part of my training, if you want to. That way, we can both practice." The last thing Chara wanted was to figure their way through confusing resets because their partner was too unpracticed to use them right. Nothing was worse than a useless ally.

Frisk nodded. "Ok."

It was then that the trainer finally moved from his position at the edge, glancing awkwardly between the children. "Uhm… So, do you want to use the obstacle or not?"

Chara rolled their eyes, but motioned towards Frisk. "Go on. Try it with your rewind."

The other child gave another nod, stepping tentatively towards the edge of the platform. They took a moment to collect themselves and Chara watched on with quiet interest.

Then Frisk took a step back and jumped. Chara would have liked to say that Frisk's estimate was close, but it was not. They fell down several feet in front of the next platform. Chara scrunched up their face a bit as they heard a soft thud.

And then Frisk stood at the edge again.

Chara hadn't moved that much so the vertigo was bearable. Still, it was weird to suddenly see Frisk standing at the edge again. It was like a movie scene that had been cut weirdly. One second Frisk was gone and then they were there again.

Chara watched on as Frisk bend their knees again, this time they seemed to lunge off with more energy. Too far. The child hit the furthest edge of the platform with a painful sound and dropped over to the floor below.

And then Frisk stood at the edge again.

The child jumped, with less energy. Still too far. They stumbled on landing and fell.

And then Frisk stood at the edge again.

It was too little momentum. Frisk's shoulder hit the platform and they dropped.

And then Frisk stood at the edge again.

Chara was growing tired of this. "A bit more energy," they instructed the other child. Frisk nodded. They jumped and one food landed on the platform. The other hung free and Frisk had to wave their arms for a moment to find their balance. But then they stood, finally at the right spot.

"Three feet in front of you is the next ledge." Chara's voice rung out over the gap. "The next obstacle are three ropes. Just grab one of them." That actually kind of worked. With some advice on Chara's part, they limited the resets to one or two at most. Soon, the quiet child had made it to the end of the last obstacle.

Frisk made their way climbing along artificial tree branches. Their arms and legs were tightly slung around it, with their torso pressing against the artificial wood. Smaller branches fanned out here and there, making the climb even more difficult. However, they also offered a prime opportunity to find another hold.

Chara waited with the trainer at the first platform. They tried to take in as many details as possible from their distant viewpoint, in case Frisk fell again.

"Wow, that's really impressive" the trainer commented.

Chara's eyebrow twitched at the distracting comment but quickly proceeded to ignore the small talk.

Not that the trainer was the least bit demotivated by the reaction. "Even the careers tend to have trouble with this parkour. But your friend is flying through it like that."

Chara saw an approving nod out of the edge of their eye.

"The way you two work together is great. If you two keep up the good work and decide to stick together in the arena, you could give the other tributes a run for their money!" The trainer ruffled his blue hair. "Maybe if you shortened your advice, you guys could go through the obstacles even faster."

Chara rolled their eyes, red eyes flashing. "Maybe you should do that too. How about you try shortening it to nothing? I think that would do wonders."

The kind look disappeared from the trainer's eyes but he shut up. So that was a success.

Chara's head wiped around as they heard a crack. Slowly, they saw the child on the branch drop, one arm falling with the backlash of weight put in the wrong place. Just as Chara prepared to be thrown back in time, a jerk went through Frisk's body as their remaining limbs hung on.

The child at the beginning of the parkour let out a small sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Frisk hung by one arm and their legs. The hand of their free arm still grasped a small branch, now loose from the bigger one. As the child let the piece go, it hovered back towards the bark, reattaching itself.

"Some of the small branches won't hold your weight. Head a bit to the left" Chara supplied belatedly.

Frisk went on, this time avoiding the smaller branches and soon they had made it to the last platform. The trainer next to Chara cheered at the tribute's success. Chara couldn't help a broad grin themselves. It wasn't great, yet. Shepherding Frisk from obstacle to obstacle was tiring and an annoying problem. It took lots of time and retries, even if it probably looked flawless in the end. If Chara gave the instructions in an overwritten timeline, the enemy would probably not even notice that Frisk needed help. Still, an obstacle that took two minutes in real time currently took about ten minutes of retries for Frisk and Chara.

But even so, it was progress.

Chara took a deep breath, looking at Frisk who had sat down at the final platform, feet dangling. Their face was angled in the vague direction of the starting point.

"So, you wanna try it too?" The trainer asked, setting out to pat Chara's shoulder encouragingly. Reflexes taking over, the child ducked out of the way, taking a step away before the limb could make contact. It made for an awkward moment were the trainer's hand hung in the air where Chara's shoulder would have been.

The child in question cleared their throat. "Yes, I'd like to."

The trainer lowered his hand awkwardly, but regained some of his composure. "Alright, then. Same rules as for your friend. Try reaching that last platform over there. There's some traps modeled after nature and what other tributes might try to sabotage the terrain. Don't worry about falling, the floor is cushioned. So unless you land on your head or with your arms and legs at odd angles, you'll be fine. Any questions?"

The child shook their head, trying not to show their annoyance. They knew how to do an obstacle, after all. Especially after seeing Frisk do it for what felt like an hour.

Chara took some steps back to have enough space for a running leap. They crossed the gap effortlessly, feet touching the other pad running. Another leap brought their hands near a steep boulder's surface that hung by a thin steel beam from the ceiling. Their fingers ached as Chara clawed at the stone to find purchase, feet twitching for a moment in thin air before the tip of their right shoe found a small ledge. With their weight hanging by their fingertips and the edge of their toes, the child felt pain jolt through every part of their body. Controlled, quick breaths huffed from their chest to their mouth and back in again. Chara had to be careful. Their muscles were already tender from the hours of training. The last thing that they needed now was a pulled muscle.

With only a moment to catch their breath, the child moved on to find other ledges to maneuver around the rock. They knew that the next platform was around the boulder on the other side, with another gap between the rock and the next floating pad. Chara reached out, right knee bending so they could fumble with their foot for another hold. They found something solid, shifting their weight. Now to extend their arm so-

Wind rushed by and a small cough escaped Chara's mouth as their back sunk into a deep cushion. The impact was still enough to force all the air out of their lungs. For a moment, they couldn't breathe, just staring up at the rafters above. The child hadn't even realized the moment when the foothold gave. It had to be the foothold; otherwise the fall would have been slower. A small blush crept up Chara's cheeks. What a stupid mistake.

The cushion was surprisingly soft under Chara's hands as they fought to get up. Somewhere up above, they could see the familiar bright red of Frisk's soul.

"Need a hand?"

Chara flinched reflexively, turning to the new voice. Next to them, a dreaded face smiled brightly at them, framed by golden locks.

Chara tried to hide their flinch by combing their ruffled dark hair out of their face. "Erm, no, it's fine." Even though getting out of the den their weight created in the cushion was surprisingly challenging. The younger child suppressed a snide comment about how the girl's own weight made wading out of the padded area even more difficult.

As it was, the blonde girl who Chara unfortunately knew as Star, withdrew her hand, still as chipper as ever. "Ok, then. That's fine. You know, I've come over to ask if you'd like to join me and some guys for lunch."

Chara's mouth crinkled in disdain. There was nothing that they would have liked less than having dinner with the peppy career in front of them. "I…" But of course, they had to socialize, because the old pile of bones that was their mentor said so. "Erm…" But what could they say that wouldn't make an enemy? Gosh, they were bad at socializing. Suddenly, an idea emerged in their mind. "Frisk!"

The girl in front of them raised a confused eyebrow.

Chara hurried to elaborate. "I'm kind of pretty busy right now training with Frisk, sorry." The child smiled. "I'd really like to eat with you, but I don't want to leave Frisk hanging like that, so-"

The girl waved her hands in a placating manner. "Oh, of course, that's fine. Don't worry." Star waved at Frisk, who's head poked out over the finish platform where they were seated, looking down. "I'm sure no one will mind if Frisk joins us too."

Chara grit their teeth. So much for the easy road. Maybe they should just stab the girl? No, the trainers wouldn't like that. Walk away? As much as Chara hated to admit it, they did need for this girl to at least not attack at first sight. Being able to reset didn't mean that Chara was willing to take a blast of magic to the face over and over again if they could avoid it.

A metaphorical light bulb went off over Chara's head.

Star still looked at them expectantly. "Soooo, are going to come or…?"

Chara waved at her, grinning for the first time in a while with true glee. "Oh, I'd absolutely hate to." Without waiting for the glorious, dumbfounded look on the other child's face to disappear, Chara turned upwards towards their partner. Not caring any bit about the heads that turned, they shouted from the top of their lungs "Frisk! We're resetting!"

The child thought they heard a faint "ok" float down from the platform. Say anything you want about the annoyance that their partner could be, Frisk's power was the best sometimes. Chara raised their hand to give a befuddled Star a mock salut-

They felt their stomach drop as gravity suddenly increased. Chara's fingers flexed in reflex; closing in a death grip around hard, stony ledge. Their feet flailed in blind panic, knocking against the vertical surface they were holding onto, nearly throwing Chara off. After a few seconds, they found a foothold. A small sigh escaped they child at easing up on their tender fingers. Chara's hard still raced in their chest from the sudden moment of panic, but slowed down with each calming breath as the last bits of memory caught up.

Looking around, the child found themselves on the same, artificial bolder as before. The padding waited below, separated by a daunting drop. And a couple yards away, Frisk waved from the finishing platform they were sitting on. Chara grinned brightly. "Thanks!" The other child retaliated with a small smile of their own.

Chara's muscles ached and every minute hanging from the obstacle sent bolts of pain through their body. Even so, it was still a million times better than having to talk to that career. Taking controlled breaths, they child went on in their climb around the floating boulder. They were careful to avoid the section that had caused them to fall last time. A small voice in the back of their head called Chara a coward for running. Just this morning, they had sworn on making allies. Chara extended a careful hand to the section where they had fallen before. The handhold was ok, but as they carefully tested their previous foothold, it broke away like the brittle stone of the Ruins. Talking had never been Chara's strong suit and making friends even less. Up until this day, they were still amazed that Asriel decided to stick around by their side. But guess that's monsters for you: Too kindhearted to ever see anything less than a friend in another person.

Poising in an awkward position, the child bent their legs to make the jump. If they fell, Frisk would be able to reset them. Still, they really didn't want to risk talking to that career a second time. With Chara's social skills, they would probably manage to make a mortal enemy by just saying a few words. Better not push their luck from earlier today.

With some protest from their legs, Chara made the jump towards the next platform. For one second, they thought that they wouldn't make it. But then that second was over and with a heavy humph, they landed face first on the firm, smooth surface. Panting a bit, the child stood up. It wasn't the most graceful landing, but it sufficed.

The next platform looked like a weird combination of fake treetops, not unlike the last obstacle that they had watched Frisk pass earlier. At least, these branches looked a bit firmer. Maybe they could just balance over them, if-

"That was really impressive!"

Chara nearly fell off the platform again. They could save themselves by grabbing onto one of the padded, steel wires that suspended the platform, but it was a close call. How the heck did that girl always sneak up on them!

The child blinked as they took in the older tribute in front of them: Star the career, who was rapidly climbing the list of Chara's nightmares. And who, apparently, floated on a smiling, green cloud. What the fudge. Chara looked over Star's shoulder, spotting the obstacle course's trainer on the first platform. Frowning, the child mouthed "is that even allowed?" while pointing at the sentient cloud made of magic. The trainer just shrugged. How very helpful.

Chara turned to the career tribute for what was essentially the second time in five minutes. Not that the other tribute knew about that. "Thank you. I like your… magic cloud as well." Mom always said that compliments made people happy. So Chara hoped that that would work. Maybe it would make the other tribute even happy enough to leave.

Star patted the cloud proudly. "Aww, that's so nice of you. Cloudy is one of my favorite spells to get from one place to another. Here, feel how fluffy he is!"

Chara tried to not make a face but complied, moving a hand slowly towards the mass of green magic. The cloud's eyes moved towards them as Chara's hand came closer. All the while, they tried to remind themselves of Frisk's ability to reset any lasting damage that malicious magic could cause. That still didn't stop Chara's mind from reminiscing on their last experience with poison in the form of innocent petals. Those had burned like nothing Chara could have imagined and the cloud in front of them looked innocent too.

Finally, their hand connected with a part of the cloud next to where Star kneeled on it. The cloud giggled. Huh, fluffy indeed. Chara retracted their hand quickly. Disgruntled, they gave the older tribute a soft nod. "Impressive."

The girl seemed to practically glow with the praise. Dropping back to rest easily on her elbows on the mass of magic, the career eyed them with a look of suppressed giddiness and something that Chara couldn't quite decipher. Tension, maybe even anxiety? Chara wasn't sure. "You know, I've come over to ask if you'd like to join me and some guys for lunch." Her gaze glided over to Frisk, who still sat some distance away on the finish platform, apparently unimpressed. "Frisk can join us too, of course."

Before Chara could even begin to think about the whole situation, Star turned and called with a surprising amount of volume. "Hey Frisk, wanna join me, Chara and some of my new friends at lunch?"

The quiet tribute just shrugged. Star turned back towards Chara, grinning. "I think that's a yes."

A small migraine was forming behind Chara's eyes. Maybe it was just exhaustion, or the sheer, overwhelming sense of déjà vu that plagued their mind. Either way, they wanted to be anywhere but here.

Star nodded towards them. "So, what about you? You in for some fancy capitol cafeteria food?"

Of course, Chara could reset. It was only one call away. But looking at that floating cloud, the other tribute seemed rather determined. The child suppressed a frustrated sigh. They would surely regret this. "Will you be happy if the two of us join you for lunch?"

The career smiled widely. "Of course. We're all in this together, aren't we? We magic ones should stick together."

Chara couldn't even begin to count all of the flaws in that argument. "Doesn't everyone in ever district at least have a bit of magic?" Kinda the point of these games.

The blonde tribute, however, seemed unfazed by the logical counterargument. "I guess." She floated a bit in Frisk's direction, before stopping. "Do you want to hitch a ride. Cloudy can probably take it!"

Chara looked at the sentient cloud, whose face slowly moved from friendliness to unhindered excitement at the prospect of another passenger. From Chara's perspective, it looked slightly deranged. The child gulped, taking a step back towards the way more painful drop from the platform. "No, that's ok. I'll walk."


End file.
